Trump's Pro-Nazi Nominee Just Failed up Into Another Federal Job
Ed Martin has served as acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., since Trump's inauguration. But mounting pressure from Senate Republicans, who seemed increasingly unlikely to advance Martin's nomination to keep the job, forced the White House to look elsewhere.
Martin, a conservative political operative from Missouri who garnered national attention for his staunch support of January 6 rioters, had used his time at the U.S. attorney's office to help Trump transform the key prosecutor's chair into a tool for the president's political retribution. He threatened to investigate some of Trump's purported enemies, including Democratic lawmakers, universities and schools, and critics of tech billionaire Elon Musk. But on Thursday, Martin found out that his time at the office was coming to an end.
Instead, he'd be the recipient of an entirely different title.
'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,' Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday evening. '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. Congratulations Ed!'
In Martin's place, Trump tapped ex-Fox News host Jeanine Pirro. The former prosecutor has been one of Trump's most ardent defenders at a network that already has an apparent soft spot for him. In internal emails made public by the conservative media behemoth's lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems, Pirro's former executive producer once described the election conspiracist's beliefs as 'completely crazy.' Pirro has not held a law enforcement job in roughly two decades.
But the tap-and-replace strategy may have an underlying motive.
'By replacing one interim U.S. attorney with another, the Trump administration appears to be trying a legal tactic that could essentially eliminate any need to submit U.S. attorney picks to the Senate for confirmation,' assessed The New York Times.
Martin's not the only member of Trumpverse to receive a cozy new assignment. After he publicized massive national security risks in the Trump administration's communication channels by accidentally inviting a journalist to Signal group chat, former National Security adviser Mike Waltz was 'promoted' to the role of U.N. ambassador.
Trump was reportedly sensitive to the idea of ousting Waltz, believing that doing so would be interpreted as a bend to public pressure. One source familiar with the situation at the National Security Council told CBS News last week that the president believed enough time had passed that the administration could reasonably reframe Waltz's departure as part of a larger 'reorganization.'
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