Thom Tillis in Trump impeachment

On Civil Rights: Supports eparations as a bipartisan process

It was Tillis himself who first proposed the bill to protect Mueller in a conversation with Coons last summer, an important bipartisan partnership that's survived tough battles over taxes and health care.

Sen.Coons (D-DE) was struck by Tillis' fight for reparations for black victims of a North Carolina eugenics program. And Tillis was impressed that Coons was willing to fend off Democrats who wanted to pile on to the special counsel bill and turn it into a partisan attack on Trump. "He was pretty clear," Coons said, recalling how Tillis threatened to drop his support unless each new Democratic co-sponsor was matched by a Republican.

On Government Reform: Protect Russia probe special prosecutor from getting fired

Tillis doesn't think Trump will ultimately fire Mueller even as the president rages over the expanding Russia probe. But he has an impassioned response for his conservative critics nonetheless:

"Courage is when you know you're going to do something that's going to anger your base," Tillis said in an interview. "The same people who would criticize me for filing this bill would be absolutely angry if I wasn't pounding the table for this bill if we were dealing with Hillary Clinton," he argued. "So spare me your righteous indignation."