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New York Post
22-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Woman accused of spitting on ex-acting DC US Attorney Ed Martin arrested on assault charge
WASHINGTON — A woman accused of spitting on President Trump's former top federal prosecutor in DC while he was giving a live TV interview was arrested Thursday and charged with assault. Emily Gabriella Sommer, 32, interrupted then-interim DC US Attorney Ed Martin in the middle of a May 8 Newsmax broadcast discussing the withdrawal of his nomination by Trump. 'Who in the f— are you?' Sommer, who goes by the moniker 'lefttits' on X, butted in while walking her dog. Advertisement 'Are you Ed Martin? You are Ed Martin,' she shrieked before hocking a loogie right on the bewildered prosecutor's tan duster. 'You are a disgusting man. F— you, Ed Martin. My name is Emily Gabriella Sommer, and you are served,' she declared before marching away. Though Sommer hadn't posted tweets since 2020, she hopped back on X after the incident to cop multiple times to the disgusting deed, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in DC federal court. Advertisement 'ED, that was me that spit in your face today in front of your not USDC for D.C. Courthouse, that absolutely definitely spit in your face on camera. Hi, hello. A pleasure to hawk a dehydrated, pithy white foam spit into your face,' she posted. 'I only apologize that this city left me so dehydrated and unable to get water that I couldn't produce more to stain and drip down your face @EagleEdMartin you punk ass bitch cuckold,' she added. 'That was meant exactly and every bit for your disgusting pig-headed swine blooded white privileged racist, misogynist, and nepotism hire. That now can't even hold that down. LOL. Bye, enjoy that spit on your $6k lapel, your other white bitch CRACKER. I'll find that footage and laugh for a lifetime.' Advertisement Trump tapped ex-Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to replace Martin as interim US attorney, and the former Fox News star announced the complaint against Summer in one of her first acts since assuming the post. Sommer faces one misdemeanor count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding a government official, which could earn her up to one year in prison. The expectoration came after Martin left the US Attorney's Office following concerns from Republicans and Democrats about his past defenses of Jan. 6 rioters — including praise for one Nazi-sympathizing former defendant who had taken a picture of himself dressed as dictator Adolf Hitler. 4 Sommer called Martin a 'a disgusting man.' NEWSMAX Advertisement 4 Emily Gabriella Sommer was arrested on a federal assault charge for spitting on then-acting US Attorney Ed Martin Jr. during a TV interview. NEWSMAX 4 Sommer identified herself on camera before spitting on Martin. NEWSMAX 'I had known vaguely that he had a photo that was leaked … in the course of his prosecution,' Martin told The Post, before discussing how Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and he disagreed over his handling of Capitol riot cases early in his acting tenure. 'What I said to Senator Tillis about that situation and others was there were lots of people that were in jail for years who were freed from jail by the bipartisan Supreme Court decision,' he added, referencing a Supreme Court ruling throwing out hundreds of obstruction charges against riot defendants. 'They were people that had not hit a cop,' he also said. 'These people were really wronged — and they may not be nice people.' 4 The incident happened on the same day President Trump pulled Martin's nomination for US Attorney for the District of Columbia. AP Trump later appointed Martin to be the associate deputy attorney general and pardon attorney. Advertisement 'He's a terrific person, and he wasn't getting the support from people that I thought,' the president said before Pirro's nomination was announced. 'I can only lift that little phone so many times in a day, but we have somebody else that will be great.'
The Journal
08-05-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
The black smoke caught everyone off guard, including ourselves and an ex-US presidential hopeful
Diarmuid Pepper in Rome IT'S VERY DIFFICULT to predict when the smoke will emerge from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, as was the case both last night and this morning. Last night, the crowds had expected to see black smoke at around 7.30pm. As luck would have it, the black smoke billowed last night at 9pm at the exact moment the big screens around St Peter's Square, which had been fixed on the chimney, went blank. And so it was that both The Journal and a former US Senator and Republican presidential nominee were taken by surprise this morning. It's impossible to time and when the black smoke came this morning, I was in the middle of interviewing former US Senator and current @NEWSMAX correspondent @RickSantorum . @thejournal_ie — Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) May 8, 2025 Rick Santorum represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1995 to 2007, and ran for US president in the 2012 Republican primaries, finishing second to Mitt Romney. He's now a correspondent with Newsmax, as well as a practising Catholic. When he was asked how it felt to cover the conclave both from a personal and professional capacity, Santorum told The Journal that it is 'incredibly special to be here as a Catholic and see this take place'. He added that the 'world has come together in anticipation of a new leader of the Church'. Pope Francis had criticised US vice president JD Vance for using Catholic theology to justify his administration's treatment of migrants. 'The Catholic Church, and the pope in particular, provides an incredibly important moral voice, one that could be very constructive in a world that's very divided and broken,' said Santorum. Advertisement Last night the big screens went blank as the black smoke billowed, this morning, I was interviewing former US Senator and current @NEWSMAX correspondent @RickSantorum when the black smoke came from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel! @thejournal_ie — Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) May 8, 2025 Meanwhile, US president Donald Trump recently joked that he would like to become pope, before remarking that 'we have a Cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who's very good, so we'll see what happens'. That cardinal from New York is Timothy Dolan. Santorum said Dolan 'would be an excellent choice' and claimed that he is 'not considered to be part of either camp, left or right'. Cardinal Timothy Dolan delivers the invocation during the inauguration ceremony before Donald Trump is sworn in as president for a second term Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo He added that Dolan would be a 'very strong compromise candidate' and said that he is a 'solid theologian who stands by the Church's teaching'. This echoed a statement from Cardinal Dolan recently, who called for the next pope to have 'more clarity in teaching and refinement of the Church's tradition'. Many view calls for 'clarity' as a call to undo some of the welcoming strides Francis made towards divorced Catholics and the LGBT community. In 2018, Francis opened up the possibility for divorced Catholics to receive the Eucharist and in 2023, he allowed the blessing of same-sex couples in certain circumstances. Meanwhile, Santorum remarked that Dolan is an 'Irishman and has all the good sense of an Irishman'. He also remarked that 'one of the big problems the Church has is that the giving to the Vatican has dropped precipitously'. 'There are some big financial problems, and Timothy Dolan can raise money,' said Santorum. 'I know that's obviously not at the top of the list, but the Vatican has to stay open, it has to survive and not have to sell off the things that are in the Vatican museum to survive.' Related Reads Explainer: The extreme measures taken to ensure the secrecy of the conclave Irish archbishop who heads abuse investigations says tackling crisis will top next pope's agenda Conclave: Here's how the drama unfolded last time around, in Pope Francis's own words It is indeed a big concern and it is said that the proceeds from tourists visiting the Vatican Museum is what is keeping the lights on. For example, the shortfall in the Vatican's pension fund was estimated to total some €631 million in 2022. The Vatican has over 4,000 staff and there are severe concerns around the Vatican's ability to pay the pensions of lay and clerical employees. It is also still reeling from the disastrous Sloane Avenue property deal in London . 60 Sloane Avenue is a former Harrods warehouse and the Vatican is estimated to have lost around €140 million on the deal. In February, the High Court in England ruled that the Vatican's Secretariat of State was deceived by Italian financier Raffaele Mincione in the purchase of the building. Meanwhile, in the Vatican Courts, Cardinal Angelo Becciu was also sentenced to five and a half years in prison for embezzlement of public funds. He is currently appealing that ruling and claimed that during the appeal period, he could vote in the current conclave. He had been stripped of his Cardinal privileges by the late Francis and on the eve of the conclave, he was presented by two letters from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was secretary of state under Francis. They were signed by Francis and confirmed Becciu could not take part in the conclave. Earlier this year, Francis had created a Vatican taskforce to encourage donations from lay Catholics 'and other potential benefactors' to aid the asset-rich but cash-poor Vatican. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
