Senator Thom Tillis expressed regret over his deciding vote to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, pointing to a “sophomoric sort of execution” at the Pentagon.
“He’s just had so many misstarts,” Tillis said on the On NOTUS podcast. “What he’s done with the press corps, his sort of bravado when he goes into NATO meetings, his wanting to change the name to the Department of War.”
“He just doesn’t have the experience,” the North Carolina Republican added.
Hegseth was confirmed in a 51-50 Senate vote after a contentious hearing in January 2025 that included allegations of alcohol abuse and mismanagement at veterans groups, which Tillis said he should have considered before his vote.
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“At the end of the day, I deferred when I could not find any second eyewitness corroborated testimony for some of these allegations that came out,” Tillis said. “If I had, I would never have supported him.”
Tillis also expressed concern over the 60-day timeline in the framework President Donald Trump signed with Iran, which he believes is too little time to negotiate a lasting deal that would justify the operation.
“We need something that can last for a generation here, and they need to do the work and stop coming up to arbitrary deadlines that seem to be more than market signaling to take some of the edge off the headwinds that we have economically,” Tillis said. “If all we did was go home today and … we see a depleted Iran, but we have no long-term commitments, it was an absolute waste of life, time and treasure.”
Tillis said that he supported President Trump’s launch of the campaign against Iran, but is concerned the president may have been misinformed about its risks.
“Whoever told the president that you were going to obliterate the military, obliterate the nuclear program, and obliterate any chance that they would ever have nuclear materials should be fired,” Tillis said. “If somebody told the president that was within the realm of possible, I hope to hell they don’t have a job any more.”
A day before Trump’s lunch with the Senate Republican Conference, Tillis said the White House needs to accept that the SAVE America Act, the conservative voting bill pushed by the president, does not have the votes to pass, and urged a united political front to help Republicans in tough campaigns.
“There is not going to be a SAVE [America] Act in this Congress. Period. Why are we spending another minute about it talking publicly? Because it’s not going to get there,” Tillis said. “The best thing we can do between now and November is focus on all the good things that we’ve gotten done.”
Tillis blamed Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who has publicly clashed with Senate Majority Leader John Thune over the feasibility of passing the president’s agenda in the Senate and for stoking internal divisions instead of helping the party move its agenda.
“Name the biggest and most significant piece of legislation that Mike Lee himself has singularly viewed as leading the charge, because there isn’t any,” Tillis said. “Mike Lee needs to stop worrying about the follows at his social media page and take legislating seriously for once in his career.”
Tillis also reiterated his opposition to President Trump’s anti-weaponization fund ahead of his Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing to lead the Justice Department.
“I hate the 1776 fund. It’s a political loser. It’s bad policy, drop it,” Tillis said. s“If we can’t get rid of it, I guess the people who are reputed to be prosecuted for 10 years for messing with the lining of the reflecting pool may have a restitution fund.”
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