Congress
Ed Martin, Trump’s controversial U.S. attorney pick, on thin ice in the Senate
President Trump’s pick to be Washington’s top prosecutor appears to be in trouble with Senate Republicans.
No GOP senator has said they will oppose Ed Martin to be U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, a spot he currently fills in an acting capacity. But several are publicly raising concerns or refusing to say if they will vote for him — an unusual posture for senators who have been largely deferential to Trump’s nominees.
“I’m hearing that at least a couple members of the [Senate Judiciary] Committee have expressed some concerns about him,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is not a member of the panel.
The Judiciary Committee won’t hold a hearing on Martin’s nomination, in line with the panel’s precedent for U.S. attorney picks. Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a brief interview this week that he hasn’t yet determined when to schedule a vote to advance Martin, noting that members want to meet with him and that the committee is working through his responses to hundreds of submitted questions.
It’s not clear that Martin will be able to get through the committee, which is split 12-10 — meaning opposition from one GOP senator would be enough to deadlock the panel. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), one of the most vulnerable members up for reelection in 2026, expressed concerns over his previous comments minimizing the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“I’ll be meeting with him,” Tillis said. “We’ve just got to be very careful because this place suddenly becomes a target if we feel like we have a prosecutor who’s not inclined to prosecute those kinds of cases. So I just need to get comfortable.”
Asked Thursday if he thought Martin had the votes, Thune said “he’s got out of the committee first, so we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” If the panel deadlocks, Thune could still try to get Martin’s nomination to the floor, but it wouldn’t bode well for his chances of confirmation.
Senate Republicans haven’t formally rejected any of Trump’s nominees so far, and some hinted this week they were waiting to see if they would be forced to vote on him or if the White House would pull the nomination given the potential opposition. Given their 53-seat majority, four Senate Republicans would need to vote against him along with every Democrat and independent.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a leadership adviser who is on the Judiciary Committee, declined on Thursday to say if he would vote for Martin, adding, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Murkowski said she did not currently have a meeting scheduled with Martin, but that “if his nomination seems to be moving forward and it was clear that I was going to be in a position where I would have to vote on the floor — yeah, I would want to meet him.”
Martin has previously been critical of or called for primary challenges against some of the same Senate Republicans who now hold the fate of his nomination in their hands. Among the senators Martin has previously targeted are Susan Collins of Maine and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who would both likely be key votes if he gets to the floor.
But it’s his previous comments and actions related to Jan. 6 that have sparked the most public heartburn among GOP senators, including from Murkowski and Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah). Martin backed the “stop the steal” movement in the wake of the 2020 election, defended Jan. 6 rioters and has launched an investigation into the Justice Department’s charges against some of those who participated in the riot.
Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.
Rep. Lori Trahan on Wednesday unveiled a discussion draft for a bill that would make artificial intelligence developers liable when their products cause harm.
The legislation comes after OpenAI’s agents escaped containment and autonomously hacked into AI platform Hugging Face and accessed U.S. government websites.
The Clear Liability for Artificial Intelligence Misconduct Act aims to make it easier for those harmed by so-called rogue AI to bring claims against developers. Trahan’s bill does not preempt new state laws on AI liability — historically a prerequisite for attracting Republican support in the House.
“When someone breaks the law and hurts you, you can take them to court. That shouldn’t change just because the wrongdoer is an AI agent,” Trahan (D-Mass.) said in a statement. “Developers have already built systems capable of acting on their own and causing real damage. The CLAIM Act makes sure they answer for what their systems do.”
Legal experts have warned that existing laws require proof of intent or negligence, standards that can be difficult to show in court when AI models go rogue.
Trahan’s bill would ensure AI developers are unable to argue that their AI systems are incapable of intent. Instead, courts “would presume an AI system acted with the state of mind a person taking the same actions would have had.”
Trahan spokesperson Francis Grubar said work on the CLAIM Act began almost immediately after theJuly introduction of the FRONTIER Act, legislation with Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) that would grant the government power to restrict the deployment of AI models deemed to pose catastrophic risks. While that bill aims to prevent serious harms before they happen, Grubar said the CLAIM Act would address how to impose accountability for existing damages.
Unlike an AI liability proposal announced last week by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Trahan’s legislation would not amend the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Grubar said the CLAIM Act would instead impose clearer liability on a broader range of harms, as well as autonomous or AI-enabled cyberattacks.
The CFFA, an anti-hacking law that bars individuals from accessing a computer without consent, requires proof of intent to hack into a computer system, which can’t be as easily applied to AI agents.
The Hugging Face incident, along with a flurry of other disclosed hacking incidents by rogue AI agents from OpenAI and other AI developers, has sparked a debate over how companies should be held legally liable for their AI systems.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in an interview with Blue Light News’s Decoded podcast, said there should be a new “liability framework” to hold developers accountable for AI-powered cyberattacks. His comments come after White House officials like Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, who was recently appointed as AI czar by President Donald Trump, previously said that existing product liability laws are sufficient for now in addressing AI’s risks.
Vice President JD Vance will take questions from Michigan voters in a CBS News town hall airing Oct. 17 as the Trump administration prepares a closing message to voters ahead of the midterms.
The town hall comes amid a blitz of campaign events for Vance and President Donald Trump as their party faces multiple headwinds that could cost them control of the House and Senate.
Michigan’s Senate contest between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers has become one of the cycle’s closely watched battleground contests. Michigan also has several competitive House races and will elect a new governor for the first time in eight years.
Vance campaigned in Michigan with Rogers, gubernatorial nominee John James and Mike Bouchard Jr., the GOP nominee in the 10th Congressional District, at an Aug. 31 rally in Sterling Heights. Rep. Lisa McClain also appeared at the event.
The one-hour special, moderated by “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil, will be recorded earlier in the week. Vance and Dokoupil will discuss issues facing voters, including affordability, tariffs, immigration, health care, artificial intelligence, the war with Iran and the state of American democracy, according to CBS News.
The two were scheduled for a town hall interview in March, but the vice president postponed due to the war with Iran.
The vice president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee with vast jurisdiction over artificial intelligence policy, outlined six AI safety principles Wednesday morning — tenets she believes should underpin any legislation to stave off the greatest threats posed by the rapidly-evolving technology.
“To manage risks from advanced AI systems we need clear safety standards, continuous testing, and reporting of serious failures,” the Washington Democrat said in a statement. “America can lead the world in AI by building systems that are not only more capable, but safer and more secure.”
Cantwell’s framework would encompass six priority areas: enforceable safety standards for frontier models, continuous testing, disclosure and oversight, public-private partnerships, protection for children and workers and adherence to U.S.-led global standards.
To directly address risks posed by the technology, her framework would have federal experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and other agencies establish clear federal rules to address harms, with specialized standards for open-source AI models to reduce risks of catastrophic misuse.
The senator is also recommending that the federal government provide developers with guidance on how to accelerate U.S. leadership on AI without sacrificing basic safety protocols.
On testing, Cantwell argues the government and independent experts should provide constant oversight and “continually scrutinize and stress test covered AI models,” particularly when sensitive information or secure facilities are involved.
She also says AI systems must have built-in safeguards to ensure they halt self-modification that could bypass safety controls. And she states that advanced models should not be released until they have undergone an independent, comprehensive audit — similar to outside auditors examining a company’s financial statements.
Cantwell, a former tech executive, has for years pursued similar priorities. But her new framework comes ahead of a midterm election that could return control of the Senate to Democrats, handing Cantwell back of the Commerce Committee gavel.
It also comes as lawmakers are under pressure to regulate the AI industry but are showing few signs that they will be able to reach consensus, across the aisle or even within their own party.
Senators had hoped for hearings, markups and briefings on AI legislation before leaving Washington until after the November elections, but little progress was made. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the current Commerce Committee chair, has continued to say he intends to hold a markup on AI-related bills but has punted multiple times, saying senators have yet to reach agreement on any bipartisan measure.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) have been trying to cut a deal on legislation to prevent and contain catastrophic risk from runaway AI technology, but bill text has so far failed to materialize.
Cantwell’s approach laid out Wednesday morning would be stricter and more comprehensive than what Thune and Klobuchar are expected to ultimately produce, based on similar legislation they have offered in the past.
Her approach of “constant oversight and vigilance” would also serve as a contrast to that of GOP leaders, who have consistently called for a “light touch” regulatory regime.
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