GOP Senator Says Trump Crackdown In His State Would ‘Be A Problem For Me’
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Tuesday he would have a “problem” with a potential Donald Trump intervention in North Carolina after the high-profile murder of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte commuter train.
The retiring lawmaker was asked about the possibility as the president and his administration are ramping up their supposed crime crackdown by sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other federal enforcement to Chicago over the objections of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Trump has already sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. ― both are Democratic strongholds, as is Chicago.
“We do have challenges, but there are far more major metropolitan areas that we could focus our attention before you go to Charlotte,” Tillis told the outlet NOTUS. “I hope that people don’t amplify this into something.”
“I haven’t seen any evidence that they’re going to focus on Charlotte,” he added. “If they do, it’ll be a problem for me.”
The administration has indeed made no such pronouncement, but Trump pounced on the opportunity to blame Democrats in the state and promote the GOP after video circulated of Iryna Zarutska being stabbed to death.
“The blood of this innocent woman can literally be seen dripping from the killer’s knife, and now her blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail, including Former Disgraced Governor and ‘Wannabe Senator’ Roy Cooper. North Carolina, and every State, needs LAW AND ORDER, and only Republicans will deliver it!” he wrote on Truth Social. “Additionally, where is the outrage from the Mainstream Media on this horrible tragedy? VOTE FOR MICHAEL WHATLEY FOR UNITED STATES SENATE, HE WON’T LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!”
The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., who has a lengthy rap sheet, has been charged with murder and also faces federal charges.
Charlotte has the 11th highest violent crime rate among larger cities, according to 2024 FBI data cited by Newsweek. The city recently touted a 25% reduction in homicides, rapes and robberies over the same two-quarter period last year.
Trump won North Carolina in the 2024 election but the governor, Josh Stein, is a Democrat.
Tillis has become a pariah in Trump’s eyes. He has urged the president to release the files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Previously, he antagonized Trump by announcing he won’t confirm any of the president’s nominees who supported the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. He also spoke out against the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s spending bill and called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “out of his depth.”
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