Ok folks. This might be a big one.
Green Climate Coallition had signed billion dollars worth of grant contracts with the Biden administration. The funds were released by Citibank.
They sue Ed Martin for freezing their assets on "waste" and "suspected" fraud grounds. The situation has been developing for a couple weeks.
Coverage seems to imply that Martin, who "within hours of becoming interim US attorney for DC on President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day used his powers to dismiss pending January 6-related cases, fire prosecutors and start an interval review for 'possible misconduct'", seems to be under the impression they are Trump's and Musk's personal army of lawyers.
Martin ordered a senior prosecutor, Denise Cheung, to freeze assets in a Citibank account serving a consortium of Green energy contractors who had signed a contract with the Biden administration.
Earlier, Martin had pressured Cheung, who eventually resigned, to criminally investigate the contractors, without probable cause.
Cheung wrote that she was asked on Monday to review documentation provided by the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (ODAG) — currently headed by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove — “to open a criminal investigation into whether a contract had been unlawfully awarded by an executive agency” during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Cheung wrote that she was then told that the ODAG representative would work directly with a federal prosecutor and "bypass" the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office, before being informed that a "freeze letter" requesting that a bank freeze certain assets "would be adequate at this point, as opposed to other legal process."
Cheung wrote that she contacted a supervisor in the FBI Washington Field Office, and they and others discussed "what, if any, possible criminal charges might be applicable, as well as the sufficiency of the evidence."
Cheung wrote that she was then told that the ODAG representative would work directly with a federal prosecutor and "bypass" the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office, before being informed that a "freeze letter" requesting that a bank freeze certain assets "would be adequate at this point, as opposed to other legal process."
Cheung wrote that she contacted a supervisor in the FBI Washington Field Office, and they and others discussed "what, if any, possible criminal charges might be applicable, as well as the sufficiency of the evidence."
Rachel Maddow, in a cryptic segment, implies that Martin is "in trouble" for "the one thing they want to get away with".
Maddow further states that this story is more "scary" than its "boring" details would have you believe, and shows how far is the overreach of Trump's loyalist top federal prosecutor.
If anyone can be prosecuted without sufficient evidence of a crime, simply for not being in the favor of Donald Trump, and have their assets frozen without due process, she concludes, it can be the first chapter of a dystopia for journalists and activists, and any organization not "loyal" to Trump.