Passerby Spits on Failed Trump Nominee During Wild TV Interview
The incident occurred just hours after President Donald Trump withdrew Ed Martin’s nomination for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
It was a tough day to be Ed Martin.
The Trump-loving lawyer got spat on by a passerby just hours after President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of his nomination for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
Martin was being interviewed by Newsmax Thursday afternoon about his failed nomination when a woman came up to him and got aggressive.
A clip of the wild interaction showed that Martin was in the middle of speaking to a Newsmax correspondent when someone exclaimed “who the f--k are you?” off camera.
“You are Ed Martin,” a woman said as she entered the frame.
“How you doing?” Martin began to say, but the woman quickly spat on him and walked away with her dog in tow.
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“You are a disgusting man,” she added.
Martin was left speechless and quickly stepped off camera.
The Briefing anchor Ed Henry described the passerby as a “crazed leftist.”
This afternoon acting DC US Atty Ed Martin was spit on by a psychotic lib during our interview. Hope she’s ready for a nice stretch in jail. pic.twitter.com/2Y5hj41V0l
— Rob Schmitt (@SchmittNYC) May 8, 2025
Rob Schmitt, another Newsmax host, called the woman “a psychotic lib” in a post on X.
“Hope she’s ready for a nice stretch in jail,” he said.
Martin, a longtime MAGA fanatic who represented Jan. 6 Capitol rioters in court, had been serving as the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia since Trump assumed office in January.
He was soon hounded by controversy over his praise of a Nazi sympathizer and his numerous appearances—over 150 times—on Russian state media.
Martin appeared set to breeze through the nomination process until Sen. Thom Tillis, a member of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, declined to endorse him over his role in the Stop the Steal movement that sought to overturn former President Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020.
“I have no tolerance for anyone who entered the building on Jan. 6, and that’s probably where most of the friction was,” Tillis told reporters on Tuesday. “At this point, I’ve indicated to the White House I wouldn’t support his nomination.”
“He wasn’t getting the support from people,” Trump said of Martin on Thursday. “To me, it was disappointing, I’ll be honest… That’s just how it goes sometimes.”
The president later announced his intention to nominate Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, former district attorney for New York’s Westchester County, to the role.
Martin, in turn, would be named director of the Weaponization Working Group at the Justice Department instead.
“Ed Martin has done an AMAZING job as interim U.S. Attorney,” Trump said on Truth Social. “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.”
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