U.S. Attorney Opens Investigation Into Justice Dept.’s Jan. 6 Cases

President Trump’s new U.S. attorney in Washington has opened an internal investigation into the use of an obstruction statute brought against scores of people charged with taking part in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to an email obtained by The New York Times.

The move by Ed Martin, who was named by Mr. Trump last week to run the federal prosecutor’s office, was the latest example of how he has sought in recent days to wind down — even discredit — the office’s sprawling investigation of the Capitol attack. It came on the same day that top Justice Department officials fired several prosecutors who worked for the special counsel Jack Smith on two separate criminal cases brought against Mr. Trump.

In an email on Monday to members of his staff, Mr. Martin described the use of the obstruction law, which was brought against more than 250 Jan. 6 defendants, as a “great failure of our office.”

“We need to get to the bottom of it,” he wrote, adding that all of the prosecutors working under him needed to turn over all “files, documents, notes, emails and other information” about their use of the statute as soon as possible.

Mr. Martin said he expected a preliminary report about the office’s use of the law to be finished by Friday, but it remained unclear exactly what he intended to do with the report’s findings.