Sen. Thom Tillis’ office brushed off concern that a left-wing court could select an interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia after the North Carolina Republican bucked President Donald Trump’s pick for the role, putting the onus on the Trump administration to select a successor and avoid involvement from federal judges. 

Tillis, R-N.C., sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is overseeing the confirmation process of Ed Martin, Trump’s pick to serve as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin has served as interim U.S. attorney since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration but is facing a May 20 deadline to be confirmed. 

Martin met with Senate lawmakers Monday, and Tillis told reporters Tuesday he wouldn’t support the nomination. The committee, composed of 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats, has not yet scheduled a vote on Martin’s nomination. 

‘I’ve indicated to the White House I wouldn’t support his nomination,’ Tillis told reporters Tuesday. 

If an interim U.S. attorney is not confirmed by the Senate within 120 days, however, judges on the federal district court for that district could name a new interim U.S. attorney until the role is filled. Trump antagonist Judge James Boasberg, an Obama-appointed judge at the center of legal efforts targeting Trump’s deportation efforts, is the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 

When asked if Tillis is comfortable with the left-wing court picking an interim U.S. attorney, his office told Fox New Digital it is the office’s understanding that Attorney General Pam Bondi can pick an acting replacement, bypassing involvement from federal judges. 

‘Our understanding is that if the Senate does not confirm a U.S. attorney before an acting U.S. attorney’s term expires, the attorney general can still pick the next acting replacement as long as it is done before the original appointment expires under 28 USC 546,’ a spokesman for Tillis’ office told Fox News Digital Tuesday. 

Tillis’ office referred Fox News Digital to 28 U.S. Code § 546, which says, ‘If an appointment expires under subsection (c)(2), the district court for such district may appoint a United States attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled. The order of appointment by the court shall be filed with the clerk of the court.’

Martin previously worked as a defense attorney and represented Americans charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, which Tillis took issue with when speaking with reporters Tuesday. 

‘Mr. Martin did a good job of explaining the one area that I think he’s probably right, that there were some people that were over-prosecuted, but there were some, 200 or 300 of them that should have never gotten a pardon,’ Tillis said. ‘If Mr. Martin were being put forth as a U.S. attorney for any district except the district where Jan. 6 happened, the protest happened, I’d probably support him, but not in this district.’

Tillis previously has railed against the Jan. 6 protests, when Trump supporters breached the U.S. Capitol after the 2020 election. Tillis criticized Trump in January when the president granted clemency to more than 1,500 Jan. 6 criminal defendants upon taking office.

‘Anybody who committed violence, like the violence in Kenosha and the violence in Portland before them, should be in prison — period, full stop,’ Tillis said after the pardons. ‘That segment of pardons — I’m as disappointed as I am with all the pardons that Biden did.’

Trump and his administration have rallied support for Martin as his confirmation process comes down to the wire. 

‘His approval is IMPERATIVE in terms of doing all that has to be done to SAVE LIVES and to, MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN,’ Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.

‘Ed Martin will be a big player in doing so and, I hope, that the Republican Senators will make a commitment to his approval, which is now before them.’

Fox News Digital exclusively reported Monday that 23 state attorneys general additionally sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, calling on lawmakers to swiftly confirm Martin as U.S. attorney.

‘To put it bluntly, the District of Columbia is broken,’ the letter, sent Monday, states. ‘And four years of alleged corruption, mismanagement, and derelictions of duty in the U.S. Attorney’s Office under President Biden’s appointees are in many ways to blame. The District should be made safe again. The District should have a U.S. Attorney who replaces the rule of lawfare with the rule of law. Ed Martin is the man to achieve those goals. We strongly encourage the Senate to confirm him at the earliest possible date.’ 

‘I am proud to lead this effort to support Ed Martin because he’s a proven leader who is already devoting all of his time to restoring the rule of law in our nation’s capital,’ Indiana Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita, who spearheaded the letter, told Fox Digital of his support for Martin. 

‘His bold actions have had an immediate impact, which sent the disreputable D.C. news media into a full-blown meltdown. The Senate must act swiftly to confirm him and ensure his critical work continues uninterrupted.’

President Donald Trump’s sudden halt to U.S. airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi militants is drawing praise as a potential breakthrough – and doubts over whether it will last.

Trump on Tuesday at the Oval Office marked the formal end of ‘Operation Rough Rider,’ a 50-day bombing campaign that targeted more than 1,000 sites across Yemen.

‘The Houthis have announced that they don’t want to fight anymore,’ Trump said during remarks at the White House. ‘They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore. And that’s what the purpose of what we were doing. So… we will stop the bombings.’

Bard Al-busaidi, the foreign minister of Oman, who has been involved in peace negotiations, confirmed that talks had led to a ceasefire agreement. ‘In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping.’

While Trump portrayed the ceasefire as a straightforward military win, experts say the path to this moment was built on deliberate diplomatic escalation – namely, a dual-pronged threat against both the Houthis and their Iranian backers.

‘This was about linking Houthi aggression directly to Iran,’ said Can Kasapoglu, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. ‘The Trump administration signaled clearly: any further attacks would bring consequences for Tehran as well. That was the actual key to success.’

The campaign’s origin in March followed a surge in Houthi attacks on international shipping and the dramatic escalation last weekend, when a missile from Houthi-controlled territory landed near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport. That prompted a retaliatory Israeli airstrike on Yemen’s main airport in Sana’a, which military officials say crippled Houthi air capabilities.

Lt. Col. Eric Navarro, director of the Red Sea security initiative at the Middle East Forum, called the ceasefire ‘a product of overwhelming pressure,’ pointing to precision U.S. strikes on Houthi command-and-control infrastructure and weapons depots, paired with Israeli air assaults.

‘They saw the writing on the wall,’ Navarro said. ‘I would argue that this is the kind of pressure that needs to be applied over time – not just to the Houthis, but also to the Iranian regime.’

From a military standpoint, Trump’s campaign leveraged significant assets, including bombers flying from Diego Garcia and two U.S. aircraft carriers operating in the region. That show of force, combined with clear diplomatic signaling, appears to have catalyzed the ceasefire – at least for now.

Still, not all analysts see the Houthis as a grave threat or the campaign as a necessary use of force.

‘Trump’s surprise announcement that the U.S. will stop airstrikes against the Houthis is the right decision, regardless of whether the group stops targeting U.S. vessels,’ said Rosemary Kelanic, director of the Middle East program at Defense Priorities. ‘The Houthi threat was always more hype than substance.’

Kelanic argued the group’s attacks on shipping ‘neither damaged the U.S. economy nor contributed to inflation, which actually went down during the militant group’s assaults throughout the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.’ In her view, ‘the Houthis’ biggest achievement was tricking the U.S. into wasting some $7 billion of its own resources by bombing them.’

‘Trump’s bold choice shows there are offramps from endless escalation in the Middle East,’ she added.

Jon Hoffman, a research fellow in defense and foreign policy at the Cato Institute, said, ‘Washington’s open-ended and congressionally unauthorized strikes against the Houthis for targeting shipping in the Red Sea was the epitome of strategic malpractice, neglecting the origins of the conflict (the war in Gaza) and failing to deter the group while squandering billions in taxpayer dollars.’

Military analysts remain skeptical about the Houthis’ long-term reliability. 

‘I am always worried about groups like the Houthis sticking to anything they say,’ said Navarro, warning that the ceasefire could simply be a pause to rebuild their capabilities. ‘We need to remain vigilant… and adopt a broader strategy that includes not just military tools, but economic and informational pressure, and support for local alternatives to Houthi control in Yemen.’

Still, the Trump administration is framing the halt as a strategic victory that demonstrates how military power, when wielded with diplomatic clarity, can yield tangible political results.

‘Massive WIN. President Trump promised to restore the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, and he used great American strength to swiftly deliver on that promise. The world is safer with President Trump in charge,’ said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 

‘If they can deliver this,’ said Kasapoglu, ‘it would be a major, major victory for the Trump administration.’

Whether the ceasefire holds – or proves to be merely a lull in a longer conflict – remains to be seen. But for now, the bombs have stopped, and Washington is claiming a win.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is planning to merge the responsibilities of the Palestinian Affairs Office into the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in an effort to continue a diplomatic mission in Israel’s capital that was put in place by President Donald Trump during his first term in office.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce announced Rubio’s decision during a press briefing Tuesday.

‘Secretary Rubio has decided to merge the responsibilities of the office of the Palestinian Affairs Office fully into other sections of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem,’ Bruce said. ‘This decision will restore the first Trump-term framework of a unified U.S. diplomatic mission in Israel’s capital that reports to the U.S. ambassador to Israel.’

She added that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will begin to make the necessary changes to implement the merger over the coming weeks.

‘The United States remains committed to its historic relationship with Israel, bolstering Israel’s security and securing peace to create a better life for the entire region,’ Bruce said.

The Biden administration established the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs in 2022 after reversing Trump’s closure of the consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem during his first administration.

Biden’s move was viewed by some as rewarding the Palestinian leadership after a wave of terrorism during which two Palestinians wielding an ax and knife murdered three Israelis in the town of Elad in May 2022.

The first Trump administration helped to negotiate groundbreaking agreements, called the Abraham Accords, in 2020 to normalize diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

The Israeli government vehemently opposed a reopening of the Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem because it would undercut the holy city as the undivided capital of Israel.

The U.S. Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and calls for it to remain an undivided city. 

Trump, in 2017, recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017 and moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem the following year.

Fox News’ Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump’s new special envoy to the Middle East was sworn in by Secretary of State Marco Rubio Tuesday in an Oval Office ceremony.

Speaking before the swearing-in, Trump praised Witkoff, who was instrumental in securing an extended ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the return of 33 hostages, including two Americans, who were being held by Hamas. 

Trump said Witkoff has ‘been with me, more or less, one way or the other, every step of the way,’ adding that he has ‘absolute confidence and support and trust’ in his Middle East envoy’s ability to secure key deals in the realm of foreign diplomacy, such as ceasefire agreements between Israel and Hamas and between Ukraine and Russia. 

Though Witkoff is a real estate businessman by trade, Trump said he ‘quickly established himself as one of the toughest, smartest and best negotiators in the business,’ which is why he chose him for the important role of special envoy to the Middle East.

‘As a businessman, he’s admired and respected by all, and now Steve is putting his talents to work for America’s special envoy to the United States and making a lot of progress. Our country is blessed to have a negotiator of such skill and experience who really selflessly steps up to the plate, puts himself forward all the time,’ the president said.

Trump did note there was somewhat of a learning curve for Witkoff when it came to foreign government relations but said he has been ‘figuring it out’ at a lightning pace. 

‘It takes him about an hour to figure it out,’ Trump said. ‘After that, he’s brutal. He does a great job.’ 

Trump noted Witkoff has already been active over the last several months, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders from Iran. 

‘He’s working tirelessly to end the bloody and destructive conflicts,’ said Trump, touting Witkoff’s success so far in negotiations with various world leaders.

After the ceremony, Trump took questions from reporters, addressing a range of topics, including the just-announced ceasefire between the U.S. and the Houthis. When asked about conflicting reports indicating the Houthis do not plan to stop attacking Israel, Trump said that the terror group’s surrogates have indicated ‘very strongly’ that ‘they want nothing to do with [the United States].’  

Trump was also asked questions about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and, in particular, about the release of the remaining 21 living hostages. 

‘This is a terrible situation. We’re trying to get the hostages out. We’ve gotten a lot of them out,’ Trump told reporters, noting it is also just important to find and return the bodies of those already killed by Hamas. 

He shared that two weeks ago a couple whose son died as a hostage came to him and said, ‘Please, sir, my son is dead. Please get us back his body.’ 

‘They wanted his body. He’s dead,’ Trump said from the Oval Office after Witkoff’s confirmation. ‘They know. He said they wanted his body as much as you would want the boy if he was alive. It’s a very sad thing.’

Trump also commented on Iran and its potential development of nuclear weaponry. The president said definitively that ‘they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.’

‘This is really crunch time. I would tell you, for Iran and for their country, this is a very important time for Iran. This is the most important time in the history of Iran, for Iran, and I hope they do what’s right,’ Trump told reporters. 

‘I’d love to see a peace deal, a strong peace deal. … We want it to be a successful country,’ he added. ‘We don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that. But they can’t have a nuclear weapon. And if they choose to go a different route, it’s going to be a very sad thing. And it’s something we don’t want to have to do, but we have no choice.’