North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis is once again under fire for backing down when it mattered most—this time voting to confirm one of Trump’s most controversial judicial nominees, despite warnings from former federal prosecutors and his own previous statements, according to The News & Observer.
Last week, Tillis voted in favor of Emil Bove, Trump’s pick for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Bove, who currently serves as principal associate deputy attorney general, has faced fierce opposition from more than 900 former Justice Department officials, including a group of retired assistant prosecutors from the District of Columbia who say they were stonewalled by Tillis and his staff when they tried to raise red flags.
“I think he’s ghosting us,” said Daniel Toomey, a former assistant federal prosecutor, who had hoped Tillis would reconsider Bove’s nomination given the senator’s previous opposition to another Trump nominee, Ed Martin.
But the prosecutors say Bove was directly involved in one of the most troubling post-January 6 developments: the firing of federal prosecutors who had worked on insurrection cases. According to a Jan. 31, 2025 memo, Bove directed Martin to carry out those firings just days after Trump returned to office and issued a sweeping pardon of the rioters. In that memo, Bove referenced Trump’s executive order characterizing the prosecutions as a “grave national injustice.”
“That great national injustice was the prosecution of the insurrectionists, and that’s why these prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington were fired,” Toomey said. “How much clearer can it be than that?”
Toomey and another former prosecutor, Chuck Work, reached out to every member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but say it was Tillis’ office that was especially uncooperative. “We don’t meet with Daniel Toomey because he is an angry partisan whose logical thinking skills are compromised by his animosity towards President Trump, which is validated by the statement he gave to you,” said Daniel Keylin, Tillis’ senior advisor.
Despite that dismissal, Toomey and Work made one last effort, praising Tillis for his earlier stand against Martin and urging him to be consistent. “Voting for Bove is completely inconsistent with your refusal to vote for Martin,” they wrote. “You said the President’s January 20th pardon of all the insurrectionists ‘sucked.’ Only 11 days later, Bove directed Martin to fire the AUSAs in DC who prosecuted the insurrectionists.”
They asked for a meeting before the Judiciary Committee convened at 9:15 a.m. that Thursday. They never heard back.
At that hearing, a visibly tired Tillis, Monster energy drink in hand, addressed the concerns. “Does anybody really believe that if I was convinced that Bove had made any statements condoning the violent acts against Capitol police officers that I’d be voting for him,” he asked. “Just ask Ed Martin whether or not that’s a red line. The fact of the matter is, I can’t find one piece of evidence where he said that the violent act against police officers were OK or condoned. If you find it, let me know…”
The hearing quickly turned combative. Democrats walked out in protest, accusing Republicans of rushing the vote without due consideration. Nevertheless, Republicans pushed the nomination through, and Bove’s name now heads to the Senate floor for final approval.
The pattern is all too familiar for North Carolinians. After nearly 12 years in office, Tillis once again hinted at a break from Trump—only to fold under pressure. His recent opposition to Trump’s massive spending bill and announcement that he wouldn’t seek reelection in 2026 led some to believe he might finally govern more independently, in the mold of the late Senator John McCain.
But his vote for Bove tells a different story.
In the words of NC Newsline’s Rob Schofield: “Unfortunately, as his vote last week showed, Tillis is no John McCain. And that means North Carolinians will have to endure a continuing series of inscrutable votes and policy stances for the next 18 months”.
Read more from The News & Observer and NC Newsline.
