Trump yanks Ed Martin's U.S. Attorney pick after backlash to Jan. 6 comments
Why it matters: It's a rare setback for Trump, losing a MAGA true believer who relished national culture war battles and pushed a "Make D.C. Safe Again" initiative.
"He wasn't getting the support," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "I'm very disappointed in that. ... Hopefully we can bring him into, whether it's DOJ or whatever, in some capacity."
The final blow came from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Tuesday: "I have no tolerance for anybody who entered the building on Jan. 6," he told reporters on Tuesday.
A fire breathing conservative podcaster, Martin was already on thin ice with the Senate Judiciary Committee for failing to originally disclose appearances on Russian state media.
The big picture: Martin served as Trump's attack dog during a controversial interim appointment, demoting prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases, pursuing critics of Elon Musk's DOGE, and threatening Wikipedia over what he called biased "propaganda."
The U.S. Attorney for D.C. is a big office that prosecutes both white collar and national security investigations in D.C. — and street-level violent crime locally.
Trump said he would announce a replacement "over the next two days that will be great."
Between the lines: MAGA influencers like Charlie Kirk had unloaded on Tillis for his opposition, but their efforts to save Martin's nomination fell short.
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Los Angeles Times
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- Los Angeles Times
Trump's unusual deal with Nvidia and AMD sparks concerns, legal questions
President Trump struck an unusual deal with Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices that allows the companies to sell certain chips to China in exchange for giving the U.S. government a 15% cut of those sales. But the unprecedented agreement also has raised concerns from politicians and legal experts over whether the deal is legal and would pose a national security threat. Questions also linger about exactly how the deal, which was announced Monday, would work because the U.S. Constitution bars taxes on exports, although some experts said Trump could find a workaround. The U.S. government might receive $3 billion from the revenue split if China's demand for Nvidia's H20 chip — which is less powerful than the company's highest-end artificial intelligence chip — reaches $20 billion, according to a note from Bernstein Research. 'It ties the fate of this chip manufacturer in a very particular way to this administration that is quite rare,' said Julia Powles, a professor and executive director of the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy. Trump's agreement with the world's most valuable company could put pressure on other tech companies and major exporters to strike similar deals with the U.S. government, but it's still unclear what the implications will be internationally, she said. The deal is the latest example of how tech companies are seeking to curry favor with the Trump administration, which has threatened to impose tariffs on semiconductor companies that don't commit to investing in the United States. Apple faced potential tariffs as well, but committed to investing $100 billion more in U.S. manufacturing after Trump criticized the company for expanding iPhone production in India. Trump also placed restrictions in April around the export of certain AI chips, including Nvidia's H20 and AMD's MI308, over national security concerns. He's called for the resignation of Intel Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan, who has faced scrutiny over his reported investments in Chinese companies, but changed his tune after meeting the executive this week. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have criticized the idea that tech companies should split their sales with the U.S. government in exchange for export licenses that allow them to resume chip sales in China. 'Export controls are a frontline defense in protecting our national security, and we should not set a precedent that incentivizes the Government to grant licenses to sell China technology that will enhance its AI capabilities,' Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), the chair of the House Select Committee on China, said in a statement. Rep. 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Taylar Rajic, an associate fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said she's skeptical that legal concerns would halt the arrangement because it's unclear who would sue. 'I can't identify who would bring that suit forward,' she said. 'It wouldn't be Nvidia because they're the ones who negotiated this deal.' Meanwhile, Chinese officials have their own fears that Nvidia's chips could have location tracking or remote shutdown capabilities, though the company has denied those accusations. 'China obviously has its own concerns and its own national security considerations that it wants to take into account,' Rajic said. 'It just depends on whether or not they want to buy it from us too.'
New York Post
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- New York Post
Controversial Princeton prof with Iran ties steps down amid criticism from dissidents, senators
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New York Post
a few seconds ago
- New York Post
Mattel suing ‘Coffee with Ken' podcast is some David vs. Goliath-style bullying
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