President Donald Trump said it was “disappointing” that Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said he will not support the president’s nominee to serve as U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Ed Martin.
“It’s disappointing because, you know, I know that he’s very talented,” Trump said from the Oval Office Wednesday afternoon while taking questions from the media during a swearing-in ceremony for the U.S. ambassador to China, David Perdue. “Crime is down in Washington, D.C. Street crime, violent crime by 25%. And, that’s, people have seen they’ve noticed a big difference.”
Tillis sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is overseeing the confirmation process of Martin. The nominee has served as interim U.S. attorney since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration but is facing a May 20 deadline to be confirmed.
Martin met with Senate lawmakers Monday, and Tillis told reporters Tuesday he wouldn’t support Martin, throwing the nomination into limbo on the committee that is composed of 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats.
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“I’ve indicated to the White House I wouldn’t support his nomination,” Tillis told reporters Tuesday.
If an interim U.S. attorney is not confirmed by the Senate within 120 days, however, judges on the federal district court for that district could name a new interim U.S. attorney until the role is filled. Trump antagonist Judge James Boasberg, an Obama-appointed judge at the center of legal efforts targeting Trump’s deportation efforts, is the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“I didn’t know that. … I feel very badly about it,” Trump continued on Wednesday. “Only in the sense that, in this short period of time that he’s been there, crime is down 25% in Washington, D.C., but that’s really up to the senators. If they, you know, feel that way, they have to vote the way they vote, they have to follow their heart and they have to follow their mind.”
When asked Tuesday if Tillis is comfortable with the left-wing court picking an interim U.S. attorney, his office told Fox News Digital it is the office’s understanding that Attorney General Pam Bondi can pick an acting replacement, bypassing involvement from federal judges.
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“Our understanding is that if the Senate does not confirm a U.S. attorney before an acting U.S. attorney’s term expires, the attorney general can still pick the next acting replacement as long as it is done before the original appointment expires under 28 USC 546,” a spokesman for Tillis’ office told Fox News Digital Tuesday.
Tillis’ office referred Fox News Digital to 28 U.S. Code § 546, which says, “If an appointment expires under subsection (c)(2), the district court for such district may appoint a United States attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled. The order of appointment by the court shall be filed with the clerk of the court.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Justice about the statute Wednesday, but did not immediately receive a reply.
Martin previously worked as a defense attorney and represented Americans charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, which Tillis took issue with, he told reporters Tuesday. Trump granted clemency to more than 1,500 Jan. 6 criminal defendants upon taking office.
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“Mr. Martin did a good job of explaining the one area that I think he’s probably right, that there were some people that were over-prosecuted, but there were some, 200 or 300 of them that should have never gotten a pardon,” Tillis said. “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.”
Trump and his administration have rallied support for Martin as his confirmation process comes down to the wire.
“His approval is IMPERATIVE in terms of doing all that has to be done to SAVE LIVES and to, MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN,” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.
“Ed Martin will be a big player in doing so and, I hope, that the Republican Senators will make a commitment to his approval, which is now before them.”
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