WASHINGTON — Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., strongly criticized Pete Hegseth in an interview, saying that the defense secretary is “out of his depth” in his role overseeing the nation’s military and that his decision to halt weapons shipments to Ukraine was “amateurish.”
Tillis, who recently announced he won’t run for re-election next year after opposing the sweeping GOP domestic policy bill, spoke to CNN on Wednesday about his decision in January to support Hegseth’s nomination after a contentious confirmation process involving allegations of alcohol abuse and a sexual assault claim against Hegseth.
Tillis said he decided to vote to confirm Hegseth despite having initial reservations about the allegations because there was “never an example of an eyewitness-corroborated account.” Hegseth denied any wrongdoing and was confirmed 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance having to break the tie.
“Now, with the passing of time, I think it’s clear he’s out of his depth as a manager of a large, complex organization,” he said in the interview.
Tillis suggested that Republicans on the Senate Armed Services committee were charitable with their view of Hegseth, and he made clear that he trusted the panel’s judgment because he served on it in previous Congresses.
“I don’t regret the decision I made back then based on the facts as I knew them then,” Tillis said. “But today, I am beginning to wonder if maybe Armed Services was a little bit generous with respect to their assessment of his capabilities as a manager of the world’s largest, most complex, and arguably consequential organization.”
Asked if he would vote again for Hegseth today, Tillis said, “I think based on the information I have today, if all I had was the information on the day of the vote, I’d certainly vote for him again.”
However, he appeared critical of Hegseth’s role in the Signal chat debacle and of his recent move to halt weapons shipments to Ukraine, calling it “amateurish.” President Donald Trump has claimed he knew nothing about the decision to pause them and called for them to be resumed.
Reached for comment Thursday, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said, “We wish him well in his upcoming retirement.”
The senator also reflected on his vote for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary, saying that he supported him because he said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., “thought that we should see how it plays out.”
Tillis spoke freely during the interview about other issues in the Trump administration, including Trump’s White House advisers.
“I don’t have a problem with President Trump. I got a problem with some of the people I consider to be amateurs, advising him,” he said. “So I want to make it very clear to them guys, you act like the president when he’s out of the room, you don’t impress me. And they’ll hear more of that in the coming months.”
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