Credit my friend and colleague Katie Pavlich for this disappointing scoop. Rather than continue to fight down to the wire and risk a judicial appointment for US Attorney in Washington DC, Donald Trump has decided to throw in the towel. Ed Martin, a favorite among Trump's MAGA followers, will instead land in another role at the Department of Justice.
Thom Tillis ended up prevailing -- but may not have been alone:
Trump provides an update on his nominee for U.S. Attorney:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 8, 2025
"He’s [Ed Martin] a terrific person. He wasn’t getting the support from the people that I thought….I’m very disappointed in that...
...We have somebody else that will be good...
....I just want to say it is… pic.twitter.com/lLc4UjqdQY
NEWS: Trump seemingly says he's pulling the nomination of Ed Martin for DC U.S. Attorney, but will find a place for him at DOJ. Trump says he's disappointed Martin didn't get enough Senate support, but that he has a good back up who will be named in the coming days.
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) May 8, 2025
As I wrote earlier this week, there's plenty of blame to go around. Martin got sloppy with his disclosures, Tillis got chippy with the White House, and it's still not entirely clear what Tillis' substantive objections to Martin actually are. The main problem appears to be Martin's decision to make 150-plus appearances on RT and Sputnik, both organs of Russia's government, which he didn't fully disclose. That certainly goes to judgment, but not to performance or qualification for the job of prosecutor in DC.
However, Tillis wasn't the only Republican in the Senate who quietly wondered whether this fight was worth the effort; even someone as MAGA-friendly as Ted Cruz was publicly quiet about Martin and reportedly critical of the choice privately. And the White House has been curiously passive on Martin too; Trump made some phone calls and posted the obligatory Truth Social message of support earlier this week, but has also not exactly made a case for Martin publicly otherwise.
In short, it looks as though Trump and his team have decided the juice is not worth the squeeze. Trump pledged to find another role for Martin while plugging a "good back-up," who will have to get rushed through the confirmation process. Alternatively, Trump might be able to replace Martin as the interim US Attorney for DC to head off a potential appointment by the district's chief judge, James Boasberg, who has turned to a real headache for the White House. If a change isn't made by the 20th, Boasberg could create even more headaches by appointing a hostile prosecutor to snarl Trump's policies.
About the only real good news from the White House perspective is that this setback will get thoroughly buried by today's other events. Trump made the announcement during the presser for his trade agreement with the UK, where it barely registered with the media. Now that the Vatican conclave has ended and a new pontiff has taken office, Ed Martin will be a footnote in this media cycle and forgotten by the next.
Thom Tillis had better hope this chapter passes out of memory for Trump and his supporters, too. Somehow, I rather doubt it will.
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