President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would pull his nomination of Ed Martin Jr. to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital, bowing to bipartisan concerns about the conservative activist’s modest legal experience and divisive politics.
Trump abandoned his pick to lead the nation’s largest U.S. Attorney’s office two days after a key Republican senator said he could not support Martin for the job due to his defense of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“We have somebody else that will be great,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the status of Martin’s confirmation. He said it was disappointing, but “that’s the way it works sometime.”
Within minutes of Trump’s announcement, Martin jokingly posted a doctored image of himself on social media dressed in papal garments with the words, “Plot twist” — alluding to the breaking news that a new pope has been elected to lead the Catholic Church.
A spokesperson for Martin didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Martin has served as acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia since Trump’s first week in office. But his hopes of keeping the job faded amid questions about his qualifications and background, including his support for Jan. 6 rioters.
Martin has stirred up a chorus of critics during his brief but tumultuous tenure in office. He fired and demoted subordinates who worked on politically sensitive cases. He posted on social media about potential targets of investigations. And he forced the chief of the office’s criminal division to resign after directing her to scrutinize the awarding of a government contract during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration.
Martin’s temporary appointment is due to expire on May 20.
North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said Tuesday that he wouldn’t support Martin’s nomination. Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said his opposition stemmed from Martin’s defense of rioters who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Other Republicans seemed likely to oppose Martin’s nomination as well.
In response to a committee questionnaire, Martin initially failed to disclose that he made over 150 appearances on the Russian government-funded RT and Sputnik networks before he took office. He later included them in a follow-up letter.
Dozens of former prosecutors from the office publicly opposed Martin’s nomination. In a letter to the committee, more than 100 office veterans described him as “an affront to the singular pursuit of justice for which this Office has stood for more than two centuries.”
Martin also had some prominent supporters, including Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump Jr. His backers touted his record of fighting for conservative causes and his efforts to reduce violent crime in Washington.
Martin was a leading figure in Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement. He spoke at a rally in Washington on the eve of the Capitol riot. He represented three Jan. 6 defendants and served on the board of the nonprofit Patriot Freedom Project, which reports raising over $2.5 million to support riot defendants.
In office, Martin oversaw the dismissals of hundreds of Jan. 6 cases after Trump pardoned defendants, commuted sentences or vowed to throw them out. Martin also ordered an internal review of prosecutors’ use of a felony charge against hundreds of Capitol rioters, directing employees to hand over files, emails and other documents.
Martin’s opponents also honed in on his public praise for a Capitol riot defendant, Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who openly espoused white supremacist and antisemitic ideology and photographed himself sporting a Hitler mustache. He referred to Hale-Cusanelli as a friend who is “an extraordinary guy.”
Martin told committee members that he condemns Hale-Cusanelli’s hateful comments as “abhorrent and deplorable.” He claimed he didn’t learn about them until after he presented him with the award during an event at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Martin practiced law in Missouri but never worked as a prosecutor or tried a case before Trump appointed him in January. Martin chaired the Missouri Republican Party before becoming president of conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum in April 2013. He co-authored a book about Trump with Schlafly, who died in 2016.
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Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed reporting.
