North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis told CNN’s “State of the Union,” in response to President Trump calling him a RINO (Republican in Name Only), that if being in the party means defending Trump’s positions on Iran, January 6, and Russia, “then don’t call me a Republican.” “Just call me a conservative. And I’m waiting for my Republicans to come back, if in fact they think they can argue that effectively. They can’t. The American people want right-of-center conservative policies that have been successfully proposed by this president,” Tillis said. “But these distractions are harmful to our chances in November. And anybody that gets in the way of my colleagues, Republican colleagues, getting reelected are a problem.”

JAKE TAPPER, CNN: Let’s talk about Iran and this potential memorandum of understanding with Iran. Your colleague Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker said — quote — “The rumored 60-day cease-fire with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith would be a disaster.” I know that the details are vague at this point, but, from what you have heard about this deal, would you support it? TILLIS: It doesn’t make sense to me. I’m not too far away from where Pompeo is, to be honest with you, and I support what Chairman Wicker says. Look, we were told about 11 weeks ago by Hegseth and the Department of Defense that they had obliterated Iran’s defenses and it was just a matter of time before we had the nuclear material. Now we’re talking about a posture where we may accept the nuclear material remaining in Iran? How does that make sense at all? Also, a 60-day cease-fire and expecting that they’re going to clear the Strait of Hormuz before the terms of the deal are established also seems questionable to me. There are a lot of things that need to be explained. And, as I have said before, any agreement with Iran that isn’t subject to ratification, ratification by Congress, is going — I think going to be doomed to fail, just like the agreement we’re trying to replace, which was the failed agreement by Obama. TAPPER: It is on unclear as of now that the Trump administration is going to be able to get a better deal than Obama got without even having to fire a shot. You just mentioned Secretary Hegseth. Do you think the president has been advised well by Secretary Hegseth on this? TILLIS: No, I actually — if you take a look at the assessment that Hegseth gave — at the end of the day, regardless of who collected the information, Hegseth owns it by being secretary of defense. When you tell the president that you have obliterated Iran and you’re in a position to pretty much dictate terms, and now you see what we have, when you see Hegseth pull back on operations in Poland, when Ukraine — when Russia is raping, killing, murdering, torturing countless people in Ukraine, when you see these mistakes made by Hegseth, I have — I actually — I think, with all these mistakes in total, it’s beginning to make Kristi Noem look like a five-star recruit. TAPPER: So, let’s turn to what happened a few days ago. You and some of your Republican Senate colleagues had a heated meeting Thursday with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. This was over the Justice Department’s so-called anti-weaponization fund. Cruz has since described the meeting as — quote — “fireworks at an epic level” and — quote — “one of the roughest meetings” he’s ever seen in his entire Senate tenure. Tell us about the meeting. TILLIS: Well, look, I have been in a lot tougher meetings than this one. And the other thing is, people were not mad at Todd Blanche. They were mad at this bogus agreement, the 1776 agreement, that he had very little to do with. But, as I said earlier, I stand by it, it’s stupid on stilts. Look, you’re talking about people who assaulted Capitol Police officers on January the 6th, were then convicted. Many of them pled guilty or they were convicted by a jury of their peers. They could be eligible for this. Look, if you’re talking about a fund that helps a man who was arrested and lawfare used against him at a school board meeting and was found innocent, that’s fine. Help them out. Pay them back. In fact, I think that they should seek redress through the agency that brought the lawsuit. But this is just — it’s horrible politics. It’s horrible timing. And Todd was there to try and explain it — or, I should say, the acting attorney general. It was a tumultuous lunch, but it was by no means the most tumultuous one that I have seen. But I do think that there was a very large number of people that said, look, we got to tackle affordability. We have got to have a coherent strategy in Iran. We have got to start looking at Putin as a real threat to the Western world, and this is all a distraction. And some people even think it may look like self-dealing. I think whoever advised the president on this being a wise idea should not see — they should not plan on coming in the office on Monday if they’re working for me. It was a bad idea, and there’s no way you’re going to make it better in its current form. TAPPER: So, there’s a wider context here on the January 6’ers, because, on Friday night, the Justice Department moved to dismiss indictments against the Oath Keepers who had faced the most serious criminal charges after January 6. The Justice Department is also now deleting old press releases from the Web site about January 6 defendants, which they’re calling partisan propaganda. And then, in addition to, obviously, all the pardons that the president gave out to January 6’ers, including those who beat up cops, some of them are now saying that they’re going to apply for this payout from the anti-weaponization fund. And I guess the broader question I have is now, is the Republican Party now the January 6 party? Is the Republican Party a pro- insurrection party? TILLIS: No, I don’t believe so. Now, there’s a question right now. Earlier this week, I was called a RINO by the president. And I will tell you, if the Republican Party stands for standing with insurrectionists who assaulted police officers, turning a blind eye towards Putin and what he’s doing in Russia, negotiating a deal that may be subpar to the Obama deal, then don’t call me that Republican. Just call me a conservative. And I’m waiting for my Republicans to come back, if in fact they think they can argue that effectively. They can’t. The American people want right-of-center conservative policies that have been successfully proposed by this president. But these distractions are harmful to our chances in November. And anybody that gets in the way of my colleagues, Republican colleagues, getting reelected are a problem. TAPPER: Does Congress have the authority to stop this $ 1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund? TILLIS: I think that it wouldn’t surprise me, if we get back to reconciliation, and I believe that we should, because the underlying bill funding Homeland Security, because the Democrats have refused, even shut down our government, we have got to get back to it. [09:10:07] But I wouldn’t at all doubt that there will be amendments to rescind the agreement and to defund it, to do whatever they can. And it’s a shame, because what Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, was coming to the lunch for was describing the anti-fraud funding that they wanted that we’re not — there’s no way that we’re going to be in a position to fund $ 1.5 billion for an anti-fraud division, when we have got this bogus 1776, I called — I call it a payout pot for punks, that you just can’t have those two equivalent numbers at the same time. It makes no sense. So, it’s politically tone-deaf. Whoever did it should be fired. Let’s figure out a way to help people who are victims of warfare, but not people who were convicted by a jury of their peers or pled guilty to assaulting a police officer, please. TAPPER: I wonder — you mentioned how the president was attacking you as a RINO. In addition, of course, the president defeated Senator — pushed to defeat Senator Bill Cassidy in his Republican primary in Louisiana not long ago. And now the president’s endorsing the challenger, the ethically challenged Ken Paxton, in his race against incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn, and there’s a chance that Cornyn is going to lose his primary on Tuesday. Is there going to be pushback, not just from you, but from Kennedy — I mean, sorry, not Kennedy — from Cassidy and Cornyn, Senator McConnell when it comes to all sorts of things, the ballroom, the anti-weaponization fund, anything else? TILLIS: Well, number one, I hate that Bill Cassidy lost. He’s a great American, great senator, and I still look forward to working with him through the remaining tenure, our tenure here, in the U.S. Senate, Cornyn the same thing. And to call Paxton ethically challenged is to call Jeffrey Dahmer suffering from an eating disorder. This guy is an empty suit and will do us no service by being in the U.S. Congress. I hope that Texans realize how tough John Cornyn is, how pro-Second Amendment he is, how pro-limited government he is, how pro-America first he is. And when they go to the polls on Tuesday, I hope that they know that they have got a great American who deserves reelection, and the other guy is going to be nothing but an anchor on our conference for as long as he’s in the U.S. Senate. TAPPER: And last question, though, is there going to be something of a you only live once YOLO caucus of Republicans on their way out the door that President Trump has helped pressure and instigate? TILLIS: Well, it’s — you know, what I try to tell everybody, folks, if you’re not running for reelection, then that one filter that you need to make sure your words are measured so that the Democrats can’t use it against you and maybe some Republicans, you have just got to have that extra filter. And I’m telling you, it’s great not having it, so that you can you can get the same point across, but now you can use unambiguous words. And I’m being unambiguous on Paxton. He is a failure. He doesn’t deserve to be in the U.S. Senate. And John Cornyn is one of the most powerful, one of the most influential, one of the most patriotic members I have had the privilege to serve with over the last 11 years. TAPPER: All right, Senator Thom Tillis, YOLO with the bolo.

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