‘I didn’t understand it’: Ed Martin baffled by reasons Thom Tillis gave for opposing his nomination

Outgoing interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin said during a Monday podcast that he was confused why Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis opposed his nomination to serve as D.C.’s top prosecutor.

Tillis said Tuesday that he told the White House he was against Martin’s nomination, citing disagreements over Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot prosecutions. Martin, on “VINCE,” said Tillis’ decision didn’t make sense to him.

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“Senator Tillis expressed a bunch of reservations during a meeting with me, hour and a half meeting. Most of the reservations were about January 6th, but I can say I really don’t understand substantively why he decided he wasn’t going to support moving forward,” Martin said. “But that’s what he said. And more importantly, I think I could have won nomination actually. I could have gone and continued to fight. But President [Donald] Trump said, hey, look, we got other things we’re doing.”

Host Vince Coglianese noted that Tillis asserted he would likely have backed Martin in any district other than D.C. due to their disagreements. He said he thought Tillis’ statement was “completely incoherent” and asked if Martin viewed it as “bizarre.”

“Well, I certainly don’t understand it. Let’s say it that way. Like, you know, I’m not sure I characterize it as bizarre, but I didn’t understand it,” Martin replied. “I mean, I spent 90 minutes with him. We talked a lot about January 6th. He was very, very energetic. He had a lot of opinions, and I explained mine. You know, I think the job that the president nominated me to do, U.S. attorney, requires a certain amount of character, a certain amount of ability. I think I have both of those.”

“Look, at a certain point, you know, Vince, I have the distinction of being like you. I did a lot of talk radio. I said a lot of things about a lot of people, including senators,” he continued. “And for some reason, they didn’t want to move forward. And Thom Tillis was the lead guy at the end of the day. I’m not going to spend much time worrying about it. We got work to do.”

Trump decided to appoint Judge Jeanine Pirro interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., after disclosing Thursday that he would withdraw Martin’s nomination following Tillis’ vocal opposition.

“I’ve indicated to the White House I wouldn’t support his nomination,” Tillis told reporters Tuesday following his meeting with Martin the previous evening. “Where we probably have a difference is that I think anybody that breached the [Capitol] perimeter [on January 6th] should have been in prison for some period of time — whether it’s 30 days or three years is debatable, but I have no tolerance for anybody that entered the building on January 6th and that’s probably where most of the friction was.”

The president also announced later on Thursday that he would be shifting Martin to other roles in the Department of Justice.

“Ed Martin has done an AMAZING job as interim U.S. Attorney, and will be moving to the Department of Justice as the new Director of the Weaponization Working Group, Associate Deputy Attorney General, and Pardon Attorney,” he wrote on Truth Social. “In these highly important roles, Ed will make sure we finally investigate the Weaponization of our Government under the Biden Regime, and provide much-needed Justice for its victims.”

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