Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is flipping off Donald Trump, announcing Tuesday he will oppose the president’s nominee for the crucial U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia just hours after Trump called for Senators to support him.
Tillis’s decision, first reported by Breitbart News nine hours before Tillis’s confirmation, could sound the death knell for Trump’s nominee, Ed Martin, who has been serving in the office on an interim basis.
Breitbart News reported Monday that Tillis withholding his supporting was the critical impediment to Martin’s nomination being advanced before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Without Tillis’s support, Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IO) would not bring Martin’s nomination to the floor.
Tillis’s office did not respond to a request from Breitbart News late Monday night regarding his decision. His office did not respond Tuesday morning to a request for an explanation of his decision.
But Tillis explained to a gaggle of reporters including CNN’s Manu Raju Tuesday that “most of my concerns related to January 6.”
“We have to be very, very clear that what happened on January the sixth was wrong,” Tillis said, indicating he disagreed with Martin’s decision to pardon all those who entered the Capitol that day.
Tillis’s position directly contradicts Trump’s, who pardoned all individuals who did so.
Monday night, hours before Tillis’s announcement, Trump called for Senators to support Martin’s nomination, calling his confirmation “imperative.”
“We are going to take our Country BACK, and FAST,” Trump said in part, particularly touting Martin’s worth with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. The president continued:
Ed Martin will be a big player in doing so and, I hope, that the Republican Senators will make a commitment to his approval, which is now before them. Ed is coming up on the deadline for Voting and, if approved, HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN. When some day in the future you look back at your Vote for Ed Martin, you will be very proud of what you have done for America.
Tillis clearly disagrees with Trump strongly enough to kill the nomination entirely.
Sources inform Breitbart News that Trump is continuing to hold out hope for Tillis, who is up for reelection, changing his mind. But the clock is ticking on Martin’s interim status, which ends May 20, 2025.
Given the Senate schedule and complicated parliamentary shackles, for the Senate to confirm Martin before his interim tag expires, Grassley would have to notice a markup of the nomination perhaps as soon as Tuesday by midnight, and Majority Leader Thune (R-SD) would have to keep the Senate in session an additional day, most likely Friday, previously scheduled as a recess day.
But unless Tillis gets on board with Trump, Martin’s nomination likely will be dead in the water, and Trump’s America First agenda will be severely undercut.
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye
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