'Spare me': Tillis draws GOP fire with pro-Mueller push
The Republican senator is eager to shield the special counsel from Trump — regardless of potential blowback from conservatives or the president.
By BURGESS EVERETT 04/16/2018 05:02 AM EDT
Thom Tillis isn’t the kind of Republican who typically challenges Donald Trump.
The North Carolina senator backs the president’s agenda and holds his tongue when it comes to the tweets. As others abandoned Trump after the “Access Hollywood” tape emerged, Tillis maintained his endorsement. But now he’s a lead sponsor of a bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from interference by Trump — enraging conservatives and potentially risking the president's ire. It’s the biggest gamble Tillis has taken as a Republican senator, but one he believes is philosophically consistent with how the GOP would be treating a Democratic president.
Tillis doesn't think Trump will ultimately fire Mueller even as the president rages over the expanding Russia probe. But he has an impassioned response for his conservative critics nonetheless: "Spare me."
“Courage is when you know you’re going to do something that’s going to anger your base,” Tillis said in an interview in his Senate office.
“The same people who would criticize me for filing this bill would be absolutely angry if I wasn’t pounding the table for this bill if we were dealing with Hillary Clinton,” he argued. “So spare me your righteous indignation.”
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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/16/thom-tillis-special-counsel-mueller-trump-522088
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