GOP Sen. Tillis takes a stand against Trump’s mandate to reform the DOJ

: World Tribune; 07 May 2025; Hits: 6

by WorldTribune Staff, May 7, 2025 Real World News

Has President Donald Trump’s effort to reform the Department of Justice been torpedoed by a Republican senator?

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina is withholding support for Ed Martin, Trump’s nominee for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

In a post to Truth Social on Monday, Trump urged senators to support Martin’s nomination: “We are going to take our Country BACK, and FAST. 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.”

A “no” vote from Tillis kills the nomination as Republicans have a 12-10 majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee and all Democrats on the panel also oppose Martin’s nomination. The nominee could not advance on an 11-11 deadlock.

Martin’s position as acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia expires on May 20 and if the Senate doesn’t confirm him by then, Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, would select his replacement. Some analysts said Boasberg could even appoint disgraced former special counsel Jack Smith to the position.

Tillis, who is up for re-election in next year’s midterms, said his objection to Martin’s nomination to the position stems from the J6 protests at the U.S. Capitol. Martin represented some J6 defendants.

“If Mr. Martin were being put forth as a U.S. attorney for any district except the district where Jan. 6 happened, the protest happened, I’d probably support him but not in this district,” Tillis told reporters.

“We have to be very, very clear that what happened on January 6 was wrong,” Tillis said. “It was not prompted or created by other people to put those people in trouble. They made a stupid decision, and they disgraced the United States by absolutely destroying the Capitol.”

Tillis said people who merely entered the Capitol building on J6 (after police opened the doors and let them in) should serve up to 3 years behind bars.

Former Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington noted in a post to X that Tillis “wants 3 years for people who entered a PUBLIC building that belongs to them? After they were ushered in by police, after the election was stolen, and it was a total set up to crush dissent. You’re either evil or a moron, or BOTH.”

Asked Wednesday about Tillis’s decision to oppose Martin, Trump said: “Well, it’s disappointing because I know Ed and he’s very talented. Crime is down in Washington, DC – Street crime. Violent crime by 25% and people have seen they’ve noticed a big difference, so I didn’t know that but if he – if they vote against him, I feel very badly about it. Only in the sense that, in this short period of time that he’s been there, crime is down 25% in Washington, DC. But that’s really up to the Senators. If if they feel that way, they have to vote the way they vote, they have to follow their heart and they have to follow their mind.”

Establishment opposition to Martin started to build, analysts say, after he shifted the focus of the office — the most powerful U.S. Attorney’s office — to corruption within the federal government.

“Instead of spending millions targeting everyday Americans like pro-life advocates, practicing Catholics, and school board parents, Martin is pursuing criminals who have enriched themselves off of taxpayers, committed voter fraud, and other serious crimes. And he is doing so not just in Washington but across the globe,” Breitbart’s Bradley Jaye noted.

Martin told Breitbart News Daily in April: “I have cases that I’m working on, that my office is working on, that are all over the world because we have jurisdiction, because of the way either an entity is based in DC or an American is overseas and has some connection to Washington, DC.”

A Tillis spokesman told Breitbart: “Our understanding is that if the Senate does not confirm a U.S. Attorney before an acting U.S. Attorney’s term expires, the Attorney General can still pick the next acting replacement if it is done before the term expires under 28 USC 546.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi could use the Federal Vacancy Reform Act to install an acting U.S. Attorney for up to 200 days, although that person must still be Senate-confirmed, have been employed by the federal government for 365 days (with a certain percentage of that time above the GS-15 level), or be the first assistant to the office.

At the end of those 200 days, if the Senate has not yet confirmed someone, Boasberg appoints the next U.S. Attorney.

Do you want Judge Boasberg choosing Ed Martin’s replacement?

If not, encourage your senators to confirm Ed Martin https://t.co/VOLVZ7UwSe

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) May 4, 2025