Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Tuesday he would have a “problem” with a potential Donald Trump intervention in North Carolina after the high-profile murder of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte commuter train.
The retiring lawmaker was asked about the possibility as the president and his administration are ramping up their supposed crime crackdown by sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other federal enforcement to Chicago over the objections of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Trump has already sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. ― both are Democratic strongholds, as is Chicago.
“We do have challenges, but there are far more major metropolitan areas that we could focus our attention before you go to Charlotte,” Tillis told the outlet NOTUS. “I hope that people don’t amplify this into something.”
“I haven’t seen any evidence that they’re going to focus on Charlotte,” he added. “If they do, it’ll be a problem for me.”
The administration has indeed made no such pronouncement, but Trump pounced on the opportunity to blame Democrats in the state and promote the GOP after video circulated of Iryna Zarutska being stabbed to death.
