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Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told CNN he will not be supporting Ed Martin, the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia that President Donald Trump has nominated to serve in the position moving forward, citing Martin’s positions on the January 6 Capitol riot.

Tillis spoke with CNN’s Manu Raju on Tuesday and called Martin a “good man,” but said his past work defending January 6 Capitol rioters is the main “friction” between the pair.

“I don’t believe he’s being advanced to the markup,” Tillis told Raju. “I met with Mr. Martin. He seems like a good man. Most of my concerns are related to January 6, and he built a compelling case on some of the 15, 12 prosecutions that were probably heat of the moment, bad decisions. But where we probably have a difference is I think anybody that breached the perimeter should have been in prison for some time. Whether it’s 30 days or three years is debatable, but I have no tolerance for anybody who entered the building on January the 6th, and that’s probably where most of the friction was.

Raju reported that Tillis informed the White House he “cannot support this nomination.”

Martin has been a controversial pick to be DC’s top prosecutor, with critics arguing he lacks the prosecutorial experience. Critics like Tillis have also taken issue with

the fact that he defended some January 6 Capitol rioters in court. Martin is known for being one of the organizers behind the “Stop the Steal” movement, which pushed baseless fraud claims about the 2020 presidential election.

In a 2024 interview with the Unimpressed podcast, Martin argued that most Capitol rioters being described as “insurrectionists and felonious” is “unfair.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters on Tuesday after Tillis’s comments that he doesn’t see a path forward for Martin, Raju reported.

In a Monday night statement on Truth Social, Trump urged the slim GOP majority in the Senate to vote in favor of Martin.

In further comments posted to X by CBS Capitol reporter Alan He, Tillis blasted Capitol rioters for their “stupid decision” to breach the Capitol.

“Mr. Martin did a good job of explaining how there were people that probably got caught up in it, but they made the stupid decision to come to a building that had been breached and police officers and others were saying stay away,” the senator said. “So the difference wasn’t that they should be charged in my estimation, it’s by how much. That’s an argument I’m willing to have, but we have to be very, very clear that what happened on January the 6 was wrong. It was not prompted or created by other people to

put those people in trouble. They made a stupid decision and they disgraced the United States by absolutely destroying the Capitol.”

Watch above via CNN.

Tags: CNN, Donald Trump, Ed Martin, Manu Raju, The Situation Room, Thom Tillis