Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) took a swing Wednesday at President Trump’s advisers, calling them amateurs in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“I don’t have a problem [with] President Trump. I got a — I got a problem with some of the people I consider to be amateurs, advising him,” Tillis said in the interview that aired on CNN’s “The Lead.”
“I’m going to make it very clear to them guys, when you act like the president when I — when he’s out of the room, you don’t impress me. And they’ll hear more of that in the coming months,” he added later.
Tillis also said he has “disagreed with bad advice that some of” the president’s “advisers are giving him, whether it’s on a nominee or whether it’s on policy.”
Republican senators have not been pleased about how Trump treated Tillis recently, with the president blasting the North Carolina Republican last week on social media after Tillis said he would not vote for the “big, beautiful bill,” Trump’s legislative package centered around tax cuts.
Tillis is viewed highly among colleagues as a team player with a focus on results, and numerous Republicans believed he would have had the best chance of keeping his seat for Republicans in next year’s election.
“Numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the Primary against ‘Senator Thom’ Tillis,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post late last month. “I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks, looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina and, so importantly, the United States of America.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
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