Ed Martin, nominated by President Trump to serve as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, is teetering on the edge of defeat in the Senate, where a key Republican said his all-out defense of the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters disqualifies him for the role.
Mr. Martin’s looming rejection sets up a clash between the Republican-led Senate and Mr. Trump, who urged lawmakers this week to confirm him ahead of a critical May 20 deadline.
“His approval is IMPERATIVE in terms of doing all there is to be done to SAVE LIVES and to MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social.
Mr. Martin, who has been serving in a temporary capacity in the role since Mr. Trump’s first day in office, has already rankled Democrats and thrilled the conservative base by quashing Jan. 6 prosecutions and taking steps to bring law and order to the nation’s Capitol.
He’s fired left-leaning prosecutors, taken on D.C.’s marijuana shops and has started an inquiry into the non-profit information site Wikipedia, which he accused of manipulating information and spreading propaganda.
But Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican up for reelection in 2026, is about to send Mr. Martin packing.
Mr. Tillis said Tuesday he won’t give his vote of approval for Mr. Martin on the Judiciary Committee. Without it, Republicans and Democrats will remain deadlocked on his nomination, and confirmation by the full Senate, while still possible, looks less likely.
“I think a lot of it depends on the president now,” Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, told The Washington Times. “How important is this to him? Does he urge senators to reconsider?”
Mr. Tillis said he can’t support Mr. Martin because of his handling of those charged with rioting in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Mr. Martin, who served as a defense attorney for many of those charged, dismissed the Justice Department’s remaining cases as soon as he took on the interim post. He also fired or demoted nearly two dozen Justice Department lawyers who prosecuted Jan. 6 cases.
Mr. Tillis said he understood Mr. Martin’s concern that some of those who took part in the riot were prosecuted and punished too severely for their actions, but said Mr. Martin’s total dismissal of the cases went too far.
“I need somebody in that role who believes that every single person that came into this building illegally should have suffered some consequence,” Mr. Tillis said. “Probably not three or 10 years in prison, but they all should have had a fine. And they all should have had a penalty. And that’s where we probably had our biggest disagreement.”
Senate GOP leaders could salvage Mr. Martin’s nomination by invoking an arcane Senate rule that would allow them to move the deadlocked nominee out of committee and onto the Senate floor for a vote.
But his confirmation would be far from certain. He’d need 51 of the chamber’s 53 Republicans, and it’s likely at least one of two other GOP senators, in addition to Mr. Tillis, will vote against him.
“We will cross that bridge if and when we come to it, but it’s ultimately going to be a decision that the Judiciary Committee makes first,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said Tuesday.
The Judiciary panel punted on a chance to consider his nomination, and conservatives are warning the Senate not to wait.
After May 20, Chief Judge of the District Court James Boasberg, who has blocked several of Mr. Trump’s executive actions, would be authorized to appoint an interim U.S. attorney if the Senate does not confirm Mr. Martin or another Trump pick, the law stipulates.
“People are not appreciating the magnitude of the Ed Martin situation,” said Mike Benz, executive director of the free-speech watchdog group Foundation For Freedom Online. “The prosecutor is on top of the FBI. He runs all DC criminal investigations. He is the choke point for DC’s worst secrets. If Ed Martin is blocked, and Boasberg picks, Trump 2.0’s momentum is totally paralyzed.”
Mr. Martin has rankled D.C. residents and the government by appearing to step on the federal enclave’s limited autonomy.
In the latest clash, Mr. Martin warned a medical marijuana dispensary located near a Catholic school in the affluent Palisades neighborhood it “appears to be operating in violation of federal law,” and threatened penalties.
Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level but the D.C. government decriminalized the drug a decade ago and allows medical marijuana dispensaries to operate throughout the city and employ a loophole to expand sales.
In March, the Trump administration issued an executive order to “Make the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful.”
It listed the decriminalization of pot as one of D.C.’s “failed policies” that “opened the doors to disorder — and criminals noticed.”
