Latest news with #ex-FoxNews
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.'
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's Pro-Nazi Nominee Just Failed up Into Another Federal Job
Donald Trump's nominee to serve as permanent U.S. attorney for Washington will soon start walking in a different direction. 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.'
The Standard
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The Standard
'Disruptor' Hegseth's unsettled Pentagon starts turning against him
Pete Hegseth wanted to make waves at the Pentagon. But less than 90 days since being sworn in as U.S. defense secretary, he appears put off balance by the very turbulence he himself created. An ex-Fox News host, Hegseth on Monday accused his former trusted advisers of turning against him following revelations that he texted sensitive U.S. military strike plans from his personal phone to his wife, brother, attorney and others. "What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and a bunch of hit pieces come out," Hegseth said on the White House lawn, his children standing behind him, for an Easter celebration. The White House saw a conspiracy against Hegseth stretching far beyond the small cadre of his once loyal aides, who were fired after accusations they leaked sensitive information, to include the Department of Defense itself. Hegseth has moved with stunning speed to reshape the department, firing top generals and admirals as he seeks to implement President Donald Trump's national security agenda and root out diversity initiatives he says are discriminatory. "This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement," said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. So far, Trump himself is standing firmly by Hegseth, saying he was "doing a great job." "He was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people. And that is what he is doing," Trump told reporters on Monday. The latest controversy comes after the dismissal of aides brought to the Pentagon by the Trump administration, firings triggered by a leak investigation ordered by Hegseth's chief of staff on March 21. The dismissed aides include Dan Caldwell, a longtime colleague of Hegseth's who became one of his most trusted advisors. He was escorted out of the Pentagon last week over leaks for which he denies responsibility. Also dismissed was Hegseth's deputy chief of staff, Darin Selnick. "TOTAL CHAOS" John Ullyot, who was ousted from his job as a Pentagon spokesperson after two months, said Hegseth's Defense Department was in "total chaos." "Hegseth is now presiding over a strange and baffling purge that will leave him without his two closest advisers of over a decade - Caldwell and Selnick - and without chiefs of staff for him and his deputy," Ullyot wrote in a blistering opinion piece published on Sunday in Politico. Ullyot concluded that Trump should fire Hegseth, saying: "The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president - who deserves better from his senior leadership." Trump's eldest son, Donald Jr., slammed Ullyot for the remarks, saying on X that "he's officially exiled from our movement." The latest upheaval at the Pentagon comes amid a widening purge of national security officials by the Trump administration that has reached every level of U.S. military leadership, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top Navy admiral and the military's top lawyers. It has also included lower-ranking officials, like Colonel Susan Myers, the commander of a U.S. Space Force base in Greenland, who was fired earlier this month. An email she wrote appeared to question Vice President JD Vance's assertions during a March visit to Greenland, where he accused Denmark of failing to protect the island from "very aggressive incursions from Russia, and from China and other nations." A U.S. defense official said the Pentagon, because of the presence of uniformed military officials, was an institution that under normal circumstances could run itself with basic policy guidance from elected officials. But the confusion surrounding the building's leadership was starting to erode that ability, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another official said the firings of military officials by Hegseth and those removed as a part of the leak investigation had created a climate of uncertainty within the Pentagon. The official added that it appeared that at times Hegseth was more focused on minor issues that gain traction on social media among his conservative base rather than clearly communicating national security policies. Hegseth only narrowly won Senate confirmation. Many lawmakers expressed concern about his temperament and lack of experience, with three Republican senators voting against him. Senator Roger Wicker, a Hegseth supporter and the Republican who leads the Senate Armed Services Committee, has requested an investigation by the Pentagon's independent inspector into Hegseth's use of Signal. That request followed revelations last month that Hegseth had shared in a Signal chat group that accidentally included a journalist plans to kill a Houthi militant leader in Yemen two hours before the start of U.S. air strikes. Wicker has yet to react to the latest news about a second Signal chat. A White House official said that abandoning Hegseth would play into the hands of Democrats in Congress. They are increasingly calling for Hegseth to step down. "Hegseth has turned the Pentagon into a place of chaos," said Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin. "If he cared about the institution he's leading, he should man up, acknowledge he's a distraction to the military's mission, and resign." Reuters
Japan Times
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
'Disruptor' Hegseth's unsettled Pentagon starts turning against him
Pete Hegseth wanted to make waves at the Pentagon. But less than 90 days since being sworn in as U.S. defense secretary, he appears put off balance by the very turbulence he himself created. An ex-Fox News host, Hegseth on Monday accused his former trusted advisers of turning against him following revelations that he texted sensitive U.S. military strike plans from his personal phone to his wife, brother, attorney and others. "What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and a bunch of hit pieces come out," Hegseth said on the White House lawn, his children standing behind him, for an Easter celebration. The White House saw a conspiracy against Hegseth stretching far beyond the small cadre of his once loyal aides, who were fired after accusations they leaked sensitive information, to include the Department of Defense itself. Hegseth has moved with stunning speed to reshape the department, firing top generals and admirals as he seeks to implement President Donald Trump's national security agenda and root out diversity initiatives he says are discriminatory. "This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement," said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. So far, Trump himself is standing firmly by Hegseth, saying he was "doing a great job." "He was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people. And that is what he is doing," Trump told reporters Monday. The latest controversy comes after the dismissal of aides brought to the Pentagon by the Trump administration, firings triggered by a leak investigation ordered by Hegseth's chief of staff on March 21. The dismissed aides include Dan Caldwell, a longtime colleague of Hegseth's who became one of his most trusted advisers. He was escorted out of the Pentagon last week over leaks for which he denies responsibility. Also dismissed was Hegseth's deputy chief of staff, Darin Selnick. John Ullyot, who was ousted from his job as a Pentagon spokesperson after two months, said Hegseth's Defense Department was in "total chaos." "Hegseth is now presiding over a strange and baffling purge that will leave him without his two closest advisers of over a decade — Caldwell and Selnick — and without chiefs of staff for him and his deputy," Ullyot wrote in a blistering opinion piece published Sunday in Politico. Ullyot concluded that Trump should fire Hegseth, saying: "The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership." Trump's eldest son, Donald Jr., slammed Ullyot for the remarks, saying on X that "he's officially exiled from our movement." The latest upheaval at the Pentagon comes amid a widening purge of national security officials by the Trump administration that has reached every level of U.S. military leadership, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top navy admiral and the military's top lawyers. It has also included lower-ranking officials, like Col. Susan Myers, the commander of a U.S. Space Force base in Greenland, who was fired earlier this month. An email she wrote appeared to question Vice President JD Vance's assertions during a March visit to Greenland, where he accused Denmark of failing to protect the island from "very aggressive incursions from Russia, and from China and other nations." A U.S. defense official said the Pentagon, because of the presence of uniformed military officials, was an institution that under normal circumstances could run itself with basic policy guidance from elected officials. But the confusion surrounding the building's leadership was starting to erode that ability, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another official said the firings of military officials by Hegseth and those removed as a part of the leak investigation had created a climate of uncertainty within the Pentagon. The official added that it appeared that at times Hegseth was more focused on minor issues that gain traction on social media among his conservative base rather than clearly communicating national security policies. Hegseth only narrowly won Senate confirmation. Many lawmakers expressed concern about his temperament and lack of experience, with three Republican senators voting against him. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Hegseth supporter and the Republican who leads the Senate Armed Services Committee, has requested an investigation by the Pentagon's independent inspector into Hegseth's use of Signal. That request followed revelations last month that Hegseth had shared in a Signal chat group that accidentally included a journalist plans to kill a Houthi militant leader in Yemen two hours before the start of U.S. airstrikes. Wicker has yet to react to the latest news about a second Signal chat. A White House official said that abandoning Hegseth would play into the hands of Democrats in Congress. They are increasingly calling for Hegseth to step down. "Hegseth has turned the Pentagon into a place of chaos," said Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin. "If he cared about the institution he's leading, he should man up, acknowledge he's a distraction to the military's mission, and resign."
Arab News
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
‘Disruptor' Hegseth's unsettled Pentagon starts turning against him
WASHINGTON: Pete Hegseth wanted to make waves at the Pentagon. But less than 90 days since being sworn in as U.S. defense secretary, he appears put off balance by the very turbulence he himself created. An ex-Fox News host, Hegseth on Monday accused his former trusted advisers of turning against him following revelations that he texted sensitive U.S. military strike plans from his personal phone to his wife, brother, attorney and others. "What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and a bunch of hit pieces come out," Hegseth said on the White House lawn, his children standing behind him, for an Easter celebration. • White House says Pentagon working against Hegseth • Hegseth has accused his former advisers of turning against him • Trump has stood by Hegseth • Democratic lawmakers call for Hegseth to resign The White House saw a conspiracy against Hegseth stretching far beyond the small cadre of his once loyal aides, who were fired after accusations they leaked sensitive information, to include the Department of Defense itself. Hegseth has moved with stunning speed to reshape the department, firing top generals and admirals as he seeks to implement President Donald Trump's national security agenda and root out diversity initiatives he says are discriminatory. "This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement," said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. So far, Trump himself is standing firmly by Hegseth, saying he was "doing a great job." "He was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people. And that is what he is doing," Trump told reporters on Monday. The latest controversy comes after the dismissal of aides brought to the Pentagon by the Trump administration, firings triggered by a leak investigation ordered by Hegseth's chief of staff on March 21. The dismissed aides include Dan Caldwell, a longtime colleague of Hegseth's who became one of his most trusted advisors. He was escorted out of the Pentagon last week over leaks for which he denies responsibility. Also dismissed was Hegseth's deputy chief of staff, Darin Selnick. "TOTAL CHAOS" John Ullyot, who was ousted from his job as a Pentagon spokesperson after two months, said Hegseth's Defense Department was in "total chaos." "Hegseth is now presiding over a strange and baffling purge that will leave him without his two closest advisers of over a decade — Caldwell and Selnick — and without chiefs of staff for him and his deputy," Ullyot wrote in a blistering opinion piece published on Sunday in Politico. Ullyot concluded that Trump should fire Hegseth, saying: "The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership." Trump's eldest son, Donald Jr., slammed Ullyot for the remarks, saying on X that "he's officially exiled from our movement." The latest upheaval at the Pentagon comes amid a widening purge of national security officials by the Trump administration that has reached every level of U.S. military leadership, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top Navy admiral and the military's top lawyers. It has also included lower-ranking officials, like Colonel Susan Myers, the commander of a U.S. Space Force base in Greenland, who was fired earlier this month. An email she wrote appeared to question Vice President JD Vance's assertions during a March visit to Greenland, where he accused Denmark of failing to protect the island from "very aggressive incursions from Russia, and from China and other nations." A U.S. defense official said the Pentagon, because of the presence of uniformed military officials, was an institution that under normal circumstances could run itself with basic policy guidance from elected officials. But the confusion surrounding the building's leadership was starting to erode that ability, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another official said the firings of military officials by Hegseth and those removed as a part of the leak investigation had created a climate of uncertainty within the Pentagon. The official added that it appeared that at times Hegseth was more focused on minor issues that gain traction on social media among his conservative base rather than clearly communicating national security policies. Hegseth only narrowly won Senate confirmation. Many lawmakers expressed concern about his temperament and lack of experience, with three Republican senators voting against him. Senator Roger Wicker, a Hegseth supporter and the Republican who leads the Senate Armed Services Committee, has requested an investigation by the Pentagon's independent inspector into Hegseth's use of Signal. That request followed revelations last month that Hegseth had shared in a Signal chat group that accidentally included a journalist plans to kill a Houthi militant leader in Yemen two hours before the start of U.S. air strikes. Wicker has yet to react to the latest news about a second Signal chat. A White House official said that abandoning Hegseth would play into the hands of Democrats in Congress. They are increasingly calling for Hegseth to step down. "Hegseth has turned the Pentagon into a place of chaos," said Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin. "If he cared about the institution he's leading, he should man up, acknowledge he's a distraction to the military's mission, and resign."
