Donald Trump criticized Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) on Air Force One on Friday after a reporter asked the president about Tillis’s comments on Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
This week, Trump said he planned to nominate Blanche for the position left open by former Attorney General Pam Bondi.
While traveling to Wisconsin to talk about the economy with local farmers, a reporter asked Trump, “Senator Tillis said he won’t support Todd Blanche’s confirmation unless Todd Blanche condemns January 6th.
Do you have a reaction to that?”
“Senator Tillis is a loser!”
Trump shouted. “That’s why he didn’t run! He didn’t run because I wouldn’t support him. He’s just an angry man because he’s not going to be a senator any longer. He wasn’t respected in the Senate. He fought a lot of people. He fought Pete Hegseth. Pete Hegseth turned out to be a gem.”
The president went on:
No, Senator Tillis is a loser, stone cold.
He’s an angry man because I basically — he was forced to leave the Senate because I wouldn’t support him, and he quit. So now he’s trying to make trouble by opposing anybody. Todd Blanche is a brilliant guy who everybody likes and everybody respects. And Tillis is always like, “I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do that.” He should have done it before when he was a senator. He would have gotten wiped out in a race. But he needed my support. And I said, I can’t give you my support. He’s not qualified. He’s not. He’s not good for the position of senator.
Trump added, “Todd Blanche is fantastic.”
Blanche seemed to disagree with Trump this week when he told the House Appropriations subcommittee that the Justice Department was not moving forward with its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, which could have paid out money to people involved in the January 6th riot, even after a temporary court order ended.
A day later, Trump said he would “have to ask the lawyers” whether the fund was dead or just on hold.
“The weaponization fund, as far as I’m concerned, was a beautiful thing.
I love it. I think it’s so important,” Trump said.
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