It was said so often as to lose any seriousness, as Trump accused his myriad enemies of having committed some unstated crime and should be punished, the punishment ranging from prison to death. In other news, randos on twitter constantly claim some act, whether innocuous or constitutionally protected, is a crime, throwing in acronyms like RICO or the dreaded HIPPA (yes, it’s HIPAA, but that’s part of the joke. Get it?).
But yesterday, the shadow president raised the stakes after Wired posted an article naming six of Musk’s best and brightest.
Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure.
Now that these 19 to 24-year-olds are in control of the United States at the behest of Elon, having neither been elected nor vetted in advance of their seizing the reins, finding out who our overlords are would seem a pretty reasonable thing to do. But not to Elon.
Musk immediately suspended the account so as to disappear the twit. As for Musk replying “you have committed a crime,” it may be surprising to some that someone as putatively smart as Musk, the world’s richest man, would twit something so blatantly stupid, but he’s no lawyer and it may have just been a knee-jerk emotional reaction. After all, Elon is nothing if not knee-jerk emotional. Surely a real lawyer would show him the kindness of correcting his silliness, right?
Who’s Ed Martin? After a couple failed attempts to run for office in Mizzou, and a stint defending the January 6th insurrectionists, Trump named Ed Martin interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia based upon his wealth of criminal law and prosecutorial experience. When the United States Attorney send a letter to Musk publicly on twitter, saying “We will protect DOGE and other workers no matter what” (emphasis added), one might assume he was trying to send a public message.
The argument might be made that what Musk was trying to convey, and Martin trying to back up, was the risk of his kids being targeted for harassment or violence now that they’ve been named. Of course, harassment and violence are crimes, and it’s not impossible that it could follow their public outing. Just ask Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss.
But their naming is clearly in the public interest, given that they have been handed vast power and control over the government, enough so as to shut down a congressionally created and funded government agency that Musk called a “criminal enterprise” that should “die.” Had they been officials of the government with the lawful authority to act, their names and qualifications would be known.
They don’t get to hide in the shadows while doing so because they don’t work for the government, don’t have any lawful authority beyond some vague claim by Trump that whatever Musk does has his approval. And even if it does have Trump’s approval, that doesn’t mean Trump had any lawful authority for such actions to be taken. Contrary to his supporters most fevered beliefs, being president does not mean you get to do whatever you want.
The naming of Musk’s kiddies isn’t merely appropriate from a public interest perspective, but a First Amendment right. Wired was protected by freedom of the press. Others who named the kids were protected by free speech. What this means is that the naming wasn’t criminal and Ed Martin, with his mad powers as DC United States Attorney, can’t legally prosecute anyone for doing so.
But there’s the rub. While Martin’s threat of prosecution might be complete garbage, it doesn’t mean his threat won’t have a chilling effect. After all, who knows what he might do, regardless of whether it’s lawful or unconstitutional? And as the saying goes, you can beat the rap but not the ride. Should Martin decide to use his office to prosecute, winning at the bitter end is hardly a substitute for having to suffer the gauntlet of prosecution.
Most United States Attorneys would have enough dignity not to make such flagrantly idiotic threats. Most United States Attorneys would have enough integrity to show at least a modicum of passing respect to the Constitution. But then, Ed Martin isn’t most United States Attorneys, and as his letter conveys, he cares as much about law and constitutional rights as Musk and his patron.