Key GOP Senator Comes Out Against Trump DC Attorney Nominee Ed Martin

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) spoke with reporters on Tuesday about President Trump's nominee for US attorney for DC.

Transcript

00:00You met with Ed Martin yesterday. Are you going to support him?

00:03He is, I don't believe he's being advanced to the markup.

00:07And I met with Mr. Martin. He seems like a good man.

00:12Most of my concerns related to January 6th.

00:15And he built a compelling case on some of the 1512 prosecutions

00:20that were probably, heat of the moment, bad decisions.

00:25But where we probably have a difference is,

00:28I think anybody that breached the perimeter should have been in prison for some period of time.

00:32Whether it's 30 days or three years is debatable.

00:34But I have no tolerance for anybody who entered the building on January 6th.

00:39And that's probably where most of the friction was.

00:41I see. So he disagreed with you on that?

00:43Well, no. I have to say that Mr. Martin did a good job of explaining how

00:47there were people that probably got caught up in it.

00:51But they made the stupid decision to come through a building that had been breached

00:55and that the police officers and others were saying, stay away.

00:59So the difference wasn't that they should be charged, in my estimation.

01:03It's by how much.

01:04That's an argument I'm willing to have.

01:06But we have to be very, very clear that what happened on January 6th was wrong.

01:11It wasn't, it was not prompted or created by other people to put those people in trouble.

01:18They made a stupid decision and they disgraced the United States by absolutely destroying the Capitol.

01:25And I can't have any impatience.

01:26It sounds like your concerns were not a big deal.

01:28But let me be very clear, though.

01:30Mr. Martin did a good job of explaining the one area that I think he's probably right,

01:35that there were some people that were over-prosecuted.

01:38But there were some, 200 or 300 of them, that should have never gotten a pardon,

01:46and he agreed with that.

01:48But the disagreement there had more to do.

01:50If Mr. Martin were being put forth as a U.S. attorney for any district except the district

01:55where January 6th happened, the protests happened, I'd probably support him, but not in this district.

02:01When you said he's not being advanced to the markup,

02:03was he operating under that understanding that he's not being advanced through to a markup?

02:06Well, I think Mr. Martin, I'm sure they're looking through it.

02:09I mean, to be clear, some of the deadline has to do with the length of time he can operate his acting,

02:14and the administration can work through that if they want to have more time

02:19and potentially work him through.

02:21But at this point, I've indicated to the White House I wouldn't support his nomination.

02:24Has Trump called you yet on this?

02:26Mr. President, I talk all the time.