Senator Thom Tillis said he would not support any nominee for attorney general who excuses the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, drawing another line against the Trump administration after the North Carolina Republican helped stall a Federal Reserve nomination over a Justice Department investigation involving Chair Jerome Powell.
The vacancy at the top of the DOJ comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi was ousted by President Donald Trump in early April following months of scrutiny. Her deputy, Todd Blanche, is currently serving as acting attorney general. Trump has yet to formally nominate anyone for the position, which requires Senate confirmation.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Newsweek in an email statement, “President Trump has a great relationship with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and is very pleased with the job he’s doing so far. Todd Blanche is an American patriot who fearlessly fought against the Democrats’ unprecedented lawfare campaign on behalf of President Trump.”
As a member of the Judiciary Committee, Tillis holds significant power in the confirmation process, as Republicans only have a one-vote advantage.
Newsweek reached out to Tillis for comment via email on Thursday.
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Tillis, who is not seeking reelection in November, previously warned the administration over its criminal investigation into Powell. Tillis was among the leading Republican critics of the probe, saying it raised concerns about the “independence and credibility” of the Justice Department. He also said he would oppose any Federal Reserve nominee until the matter was fully resolved. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced last week that she was closing the probe into Powell.
Strong public breaks with Trump remain fairly rare among Republicans, but lawmakers retiring or nearing the end of their terms have shown greater willingness to challenge the administration, as former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene did before resigning in January.
In another line in the sand, Tillis said that he will not confirm anyone for attorney general who has excused the January 6 events.
“Hopefully they’ll take me at my word when I say anybody who equivocated on the January 6 rioters, I just can’t support,” Tillis told Politico about potential attorney general nominees.
Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as lawmakers were inside certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s election win. The protesters smashed windows, assaulted police officers, and flooded the House and Senate chambers, forcing lawmakers to flee the Capitol. Several people died during the event and its aftermath, including Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a U.S. Capitol Police officer while attempting to enter the House Speaker’s Lobby, as well as Officer Brian Sicknick. Around 1,500 people were charged in the Capitol attack.
On January 6, 2026, the White House published an official webpage titled “January 6: A Date Which Will Live in Infamy.” The site portrays the attack as the result of security failures by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and as an overreaction by Capitol Police to peaceful protesters. It accuses Democrats of staging the “real insurrection” by certifying Biden’s 2020 election win, which it labeled “fraud-ridden.”
The White House page also said Democrats had “masterfully reversed reality,” and asserted that Trump “corrected a historic wrong” by issuing sweeping pardons and commutations for January 6 defendants.
Tillis was critical of the January 6 events, although he did not vote to impeach Trump in the aftermath. In a February 2021 statement, he said, “No president is above the law or immune from criminal prosecution, and that includes former President Trump.”
He continued, “The most serious aspect of President Trump’s conduct was not necessarily what he said in the lead-up to the attack of the Capitol, but the leadership he failed to provide to put an end to it, and yet the House curiously chose not to file a charge or build their case around this point.”
Jackson concluded her statement saying, “The President’s entire team at the Department of Justice is doing a great job advocating for sanity, law and order, and policies that keep Americans safe.”
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