Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., on Wednesday called for an FBI probe into U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin's conduct and communications while serving in one of the nation's most powerful federal prosecutor roles, The Hill reported.
Raskin pressed FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate Martin's failure to report hundreds of media appearances he's made in the past few years, including many on far-right outlets and Russian-state media, when he first filed his mandated disclosure forms to Congress, and whether his omissions "were inadvertent or part of a deliberate attempt to conceal his extensive ties to Russian media and intelligence operations."
"The Congress of the United States and the American people deserve a full picture of Mr. Martin, his relationships to Russia, and his political loyalties," Raskin wrote in a letter to Patel.
"RT [Russia Today] and Sputnik have been 'critical elements' in Moscow's propaganda and disinformation efforts, which have been addressed by both Democratic and Republican administrations. Since 2017 and 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) 'has required RT and Sputnik to register as foreign agents, reflecting Russian government control over their operations,'" Rasking added, noting that last year the U.S., Canada and Britain all sanctioned the networks due to their "disinformation campaigns" targeting U.S. elections.