Key GOP senator won't support Trump loyalist Ed Martin to be D.C.'s top prosecutor
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina's decision likely derails Martin's nomination as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
WASHINGTON — Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he wouldn't support Ed Martin, President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, likely blocking the path to confirmation for the “Stop the Steal” organizer who had closely aligned himself with Jan. 6 defendants.
“I’ve indicated to the White House I wouldn’t support his nomination,” Tillis said Tuesday after meeting with Martin on Monday night.
Tillis is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is overseeing Martin's nomination. The panel has 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats, meaning if all other members aside from Tillis voted along party lines, the vote on Marin would end in a tie, and Martin's nomination would not be reported favorably to the full Senate.
Trump's nomination of Martin, a longtime right-wing activist who had no prosecutorial experience until Trump named him as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia on the day of his inauguration, had raised major concerns with alumni of the office, which prosecutors both federal and local crimes in Washington.
Tillis said his concerns about Martin’s involvement in the defense of people who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were too much to overcome, but said that Martin agreed with him that there were hundreds of individuals who shouldn't have been included in Trump's mass pardons.
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