CNN
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President Donald Trump said Thursday he will soon announce a new nominee for US attorney in Washington, DC, replacing Ed Martin, whose nomination had been imperiled in recent days amid what appeared to be insurmountable pushback from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
“He’s a terrific person, and he wasn’t getting the support from people that I thought,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I can only lift that little phone so many times in a day, but we have somebody else that will be great,” he added.
Instead, the president said Martin will take on a role within the Department of Justice “or whatever.”
CNN has reached out to Martin and the US Attorney’s Office for DC for comment.
The failed nomination marks a rare instance of congressional Republicans breaking with the president over a high-profile pick. Up until the announcement, the White House had insisted it stood by Martin for the position, with the president personally lobbying lawmakers to support him.
Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi will discuss who might be best to appoint next, but officials are not sure when that conversation will take place, people familiar with the process said.
The attorney general told reporters on Wednesday that she planned to speak with Martin about “what’s going on” with his nomination. It was not immediately clear whether that call had occurred.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee responsible for advancing Martin to a full Senate vote, said following Trump’s remarks that he had not been made aware the president was likely pulling the nomination. “I have not been informed,” the Iowa Republican told CNN.
Martin’s nomination was first derailed Monday when Sen. Thom Tillis, a key GOP swing vote, informed the White House he would not support the president’s nominee for the job over concerns related to Martin’s views on the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Tillis, who serves on the Judiciary panel, had met with Martin Monday. Last week, the North Carolina Republican told CNN he has “serious questions” about the nomination, given Martin’s previous comments denigrating police officers who defended the Capitol.
Prior to serving as acting US attorney, Martin was a defense attorney for a handful of January 6 rioters and attended Trump’s speech at the Ellipse near the Capitol the day of the attack. On his podcast in 2024, Martin claimed two officers who defended the Capitol on January 6 “appear to have lied” about being “mistreated” and accused them of possible perjury.
In written responses to senators under oath, Martin refused to say unequivocally there was violence on January 6, 2021, and would not directly answer if he believed the 2020 election was stolen. He also didn’t close the door on the idea that Trump could serve a third term as president, which would be unconstitutional.
Tillis’ public opposition meant Republicans did not have the votes to advance Martin, stalling the nomination in committee and setting him up to miss a critical deadline for confirmation before his interim position expired on May 20.
Sen. Lindsey Graham noted Thursday that Republicans “didn’t have the votes,” saying of Trump’s announcement: “I thought that was probably a good decision, given all the concerns.”
The South Carolina Republican also suggested he had insight into the president’s next pick for the job, telling CNN, “Stay tuned. It’s going to be big.”
The White House as recently as Tuesday said it was looking forward to Martin’s nomination, with spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer calling him “the right man for the job” in a statement. Trump officials at the time were consulting with legislative advisers on possible next steps to try to move the nomination forward even when it stalled in committee.
Martin’s nomination process had been riddled with controversies since the president formally nominated him for the job in March.
On at least three different occasions, Martin updated his mandated disclosure to Congress detailing all of his past media appearances after his initial filing failed to report nearly 200 appearances he had made in the past few years, including many on far-right outlets and Russian-state media.
A CNN KFile analysis of Martin’s initial 27-page disclosure form reveals that it does not come close to capturing the extent of his media appearances, and it lacks any reference to at least 240 podcast, radio and TV interviews he’s done in the past two years alone.
He also had to answer for his previous praise of Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a Capitol rioter who is an alleged Nazi sympathizer, despite his more recent denouncement.
Despite Martin’s attempts to distance himself from Hale-Cusanelli, a CNN KFile review of Martin’s podcast shows he repeatedly praised Hale-Cusanelli in interviews with him, including two where they openly discussed — and dismissed — allegations that Hale-Cusanelli held pro-Nazi views, including an infamous photo of Hale-Cusanelli posing with a Hitler-style mustache.
In a July 2024 episode, Martin said: “Tim Hale is an extraordinary guy. I’ve gotten to know him really well. I’d say we’re friends over the last few years, and especially in the last month since he’s been out of jail.”
And in response to a series of questions put to him by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Martin said under oath he did not recall some of his most controversial past statements.
Asked in one instance whether he ever equated a Democratic politician to Adolf Hitler, Martin wrote, “I do not recall doing so.”
Yet in an October 2022 episode of his own podcast, “The Pro-America Report with Ed Martin,” Martin said, “President Joe Biden is Hitler.”
“There’s only one character on the world stage right now who actually is utilizing some of the techniques, maybe many of them that were used by people like Hitler and by Hitler himself. And that’s Joe Biden,” Martin added.
During his short tenure as acting US attorney, Martin, a longtime conservative activist and former chair of the Missouri Republican Party, has drawn attention for having referred to the nation’s largest office of federal prosecutors as “President Trumps’ [sic] lawyers,” and demoting senior attorneys who worked on January 6, 2021, Capitol riot cases.
Top Justice Department officials, who had preferred another candidate for the job, had to caution Martin about some of his public activities since taking office. Nonetheless, they had come to terms with the fact that he was Trump’s pick and were doing everything they could to help get him confirmed, sources briefed on the matter previously told CNN.
Prior to the Thursday announcement, Trump and Martin allies made clear that the president was thrilled with Martin’s job performance.
“Martin is President Trump’s favorite US Attorney,” one source familiar with his nomination process previously told CNN.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz, Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck contributed to this report.
