Trump to pick new top D.C. prosecutor after Ed Martin fails to secure support
"I was disappointed. A lot of people were disappointed, but that's the way it works sometimes," Trump said at an event at the White House to announce an initial trade pact with the United Kingdom. "We have somebody else that we'll be announcing over the next two days who's going to be great."
A spokesperson for Martin's office could not be immediately reached for comment.
A source close to the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this week said the committee would not move forward with a vote before Martin's interim term expires on May 20.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who sits on the committee, appeared to deal Martin's nomination a fatal blow when he told reporters at the Capitol that he could not support him because of Martin's views about the January 6, 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol by Trump's supporters.
Martin faced opposition over his conduct in office, political advocacy and support for people who took part in the U.S. Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
His tenure has been marked by Trump's sweeping pardons for nearly all of the January 6 participants, firings and demotions of career prosecutors who worked on those investigations and unusual public threats to investigate people - including members of Congress - who have opposed the Trump administration's agenda.
Martin previously defended three former January 6 defendants in court and was a supporter of Trump's false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen through voter fraud.
He also faced criticism from Democrats over his ties to Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, an Army reservist convicted of storming the Capitol whom prosecutors described as a Nazi sympathizer, a claim Hale-Cusanelli's lawyer denied.
It is unclear whom Trump might tap for the U.S. Attorney role.
Names that had been floated previously as possible candidates have included Sam Ramer, the current general counsel at the FBI, and defense attorney John Irving, who worked at the Environmental Protection Agency during Trump's first term.
It was also unclear what is next for Martin. Trump said Thursday he would be looking to possibly give him a different role in the administration.
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