(WASHINGTON) — Ed Martin, a top DOJ official and director of the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group, on Wednesday withdrew his request to an attorney for a retired FBI agent who was among the first to respond to the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that suggested the agent could be under criminal investigation for testifying at the defamation trial of conspiracy theorist and Infowars host Alex Jones.
Martin’s decision to retract his letter came after an admonishment from the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a person familiar with the matter told ABC News. Blanche ordered Martin to rescind his letter to Mattei on Wednesday following growing backlash after Jones made it public on his X account Tuesday.
“Dear Sir,” Martin said in the letter Wednesday to Christopher Mattei, the attorney for retired FBI agent William Aldenberg. “At this time, I write to inform you that there is no investigation of you or your client. Because of this, I hereby withdraw my request for information from you or your former client.”
The reversal came a day after Jones posted a copy of the letter Martin had sent to Mattei requesting a series of responses about Aldenberg’s involvement in the lawsuit that resulted in a $1.4 billion judgment against Jones.
“I am writing to request information from you regarding your client FBI Special Agent William Aldenberg and his role in certain litigation that may benefit him personally and that may impact our citizens and our legal system,” Martin wrote in the initial letter. “As you may know, there are criminal laws protecting the citizens from actions by government employees who may be acting for personal benefit. I encourage you to review those.”
Jones had previously posted a picture on Sep. 12 of him standing next to Martin, three days before Martin’s letter was sent to Mattei.
In a statement to ABC News Tuesday, Mattei blasted Martin over the letter describing it as the latest step in Jones’ campaign of harassment targeting Aldenberg and the Sandy Hook families.
“Thanks to the courage of the Sandy Hook families, Infowars will soon be finished,” Mattei said. “In his last gasps, Jones is once again harassing them, only now with the corrupt complicity of at least one DOJ official. It’s as disgusting as it is pathetic, and we will not stand for it.”
Jones was previously ordered to pay Aldenberg $90 million stemming from the defamation suit he and families of the Sandy Hook victims brought against Jones for harassment and threats they suffered in the wake of the tragedy as a result of conspiracy theories stoked by Jones.
At trial, Aldenberg broke into tears as he described being one of the first to arrive at the scene and entering the classrooms where 20 children had been killed.
Aldenberg later testified about years of threats and harassment he was forced to endure from people who bought into Jones’ theories about the shooting being a staged event to strip people of their 2nd Amendment rights.
Among the questions posed by Martin to Aldenberg’s attorneys was whether Aldenberg revealed “any financial benefit that might accrue to him as he led litigation and recruited other plaintiffs?” He further asked whether Aldenberg made clear that his testimony at Jones’ trial was “in his personal capacity” if he recused himself from any “matters in his work to protect himself and others from conflict.”
Martin had requested Mattei issue a formal response by Sept. 29.
During his previous tenure as the Interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., before his nomination had to be pulled due to lack of Republican support, Martin sent a series of similar letters to high-profile Democrats and other opponents of the president suggesting he had launched similar investigations into them.
A Justice Department spokesperson did not respond to questions regarding whether Attorney General Pam Bondi or other department leadership were aware of Martin’s inquiry to Mattei and if they had ordered him to rescind his letter.
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