President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the powerful U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C. has hit a roadblock in the Senate after a key Republican said he would not vote in favor of the controversial nominee.
The president has nominated Ed Martin, a conservative lawyer who supported Trump’s Stop the Steal movement in 2020, advocated for lesser sentencing for January 6 defendants, appeared on Russian state media networks multiple times and used social media to threaten critics of Elon Musk.
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina told reporters on Tuesday that he informed the White House he would not support Martin’s nomination after meeting with the conservative lawyer on Monday evening.
“Most of my concerns are related to Jan. 6,” Tillis said.
Since becoming interim head of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Martin has fired or demoted federal prosecutors who worked on cases against January 6 rioters and opened investigations into the decisions that led to bringing charges against defendants.
Tillis said he understood Martin’s perspective that some January 6 defendants were overly prosecuted, but he did not believe most of them should have received a pardon, which Trump bestowed on them after taking office.
"If Mr. Martin were being put forth as a U.S. attorney for any district except the district where Jan. 6 happened, the protest happened, I’d probably support him, but not in this district,” Tillis said.
Without Tillis’s vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee would be deadlocked in an 11–11 vote, assuming Democrats would vote against Martin.
Martin’s nomination was not included on the committee’s schedule this week. When asked why, Chairman and Senator Chuck Grassley said, "I want to put people on the agenda that I can help the president be successful in his nominees.”
It’s unclear if Trump will pull Martin’s nomination.
A spokesperson for the White House told the New York Times, “Ed Martin is a fantastic U.S. attorney for D.C. and will continue to implement the president’s law-and-order agenda in Washington. He is the right man for the job and we look forward to his confirmation.”
Martin’s nomination has caused a stir in Washington.
More than 100 former federal prosecutors who worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. signed a letter expressing concerns over Martin, who they believe is “unworthy of the position, incapable of the task, and an affront to the singular pursuit of justice.”
While some have complained that Martin may have a conflict of interest in Jan 6 cases, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel declined to investigate as, while saying it was “unseemly” for Martin to appear for the DoJ in the matter because “there is no rule prohibiting lawyers from giving the appearance of impropriety.”
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