GOP Senator: ‘No Question’ Bill To Shield Mueller Is Directed At Trump

North Carolina Senate candidate Thom Tillis listens during a national security roundtable at the Wayne County Veterans Services in Goldsboro, N.C., Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
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Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) on Sunday said there is “no question” a bill he co-sponsored to shield Justice Department special counsels from political influence is at least partly directed at President Donald Trump.

On “Fox News Sunday,” Tillis said the bill reflected concern about Trump’s reaction to Robert Mueller, the special counsel overseeing the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“That’s why we put the effective date back to the date of the hire of the current special counsel,” he said.

“Is some of this directed at President Trump?” Fox News’ Chris Wallace pressed.

“Well, there’s no question that it is,” Tillis replied. “But this is about the Department of Justice.”

Tillis and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) on Thursday introduced a bill to allow any fired Justice Department special counsel to challenge his or her removal in court before a panel of three federal judges.

Sens. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced a similar bill on Thursday that would require any action by the attorney general to terminate a special counsel to first undergo federal judicial review.

On ABC News’ “This Week,” Tillis pushed back against Trump’s oft-aired complaint that the entire investigation is a “witch hunt.”

“I’m not sure that I agree with the ‘witch hunt,'” Tillis said. “And we’ll let the facts lead us to whether or not it was a hoax or a distraction.”

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  1. Avatar for pshah pshah says:

    Senator Tillis has basically taken the Democratic position. Wow! Makes me wonder what he knows that isn’t public knowledge yet.

  2. Trust me, if it wasn’t bad, Tillis, of all people, wouldn’t be wearing a life jacket all the time and having all his meals brought out to him at his deckchair near the lifeboats.

    Update. I was reflecting further on this guy, who I really dislike, though I no longer underestimate his intelligence.

    Back in January, he was on-board the Apology Train. I fired off a blistering rage-fax to Tillis over this:

    And now he’s doing this, firing off snarky responses to Medvedev tweets that are so obviously calculated to push Trump’s big obvious buttons that it was clearly based on an FSB psych profile we’d call it crude and laughable if it wasn’t Trump . . .
    http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article165062052.html

    Dude knows something. Something has him spooked.

  3. Avatar for krux krux says:

    “Senator Tillis said on Fox News”…

    I may need to get glasses.

    Who put what in Tillis’ wheaties?

  4. Those weren’t the Wheaties that Caitlyn Jenner had for breakfast, that’s for sure!

  5. But, but, but… KAC assured us, just this morning, that such claims were merely “hypothetical.”

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