Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) expressed his frustration with the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files Wednesday.
“Release the damn files,” Tillis said at an Axios forum, adding that it would help put the issue to bed. President Donald Trump and his administration are facing an uproar concerning their handling of the files and the chief executive’s labeling of them as a “hoax.”
“It makes no sense to me,” Tillis said. “Either it’s a nothingburger … or it’s something really disturbing, and that’s actually even a more compelling reason to release it,” he added.
Tillis chose not to run for reelection after opposing Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. He was one of two Republican senators to vote against advancing the tax bill over its Medicaid reforms. Trump had threatened him with a primary challenge.
Over the past few days, Trump has posted on Truth Social to address criticism over his handling of the Epstein files, attempting to discredit them and point blame at former President Barack Obama for his administration’s alleged interference in the 2016 election. Trump pointed to a report touted by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard showing Obama’s administration ignored intelligence that suggested Russia was not interfering in the 2016 election.
As for the House, the chamber’s Republicans have been in conflict over whether to put forward a binding resolution to release the Epstein files. Republicans in support of the effort were expecting to act on it, but Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) let the House free for a summer recess before they could do so.
The House will not return until September, and some Republicans hope the Epstein controversy will blow over by then.
Tillis also said he felt very strongly about the Medicaid proposals in the bill, which Trump has since signed into law. It has been criticized for provisions characterized as stripping Medicaid from some people.
“There was just a moment when I was having a discussion with the president,” Tillis said. “I felt so strongly about what we needed to change in the bill with respect to Medicaid that I needed to take off the table that my election prospects would have any relationship with the extent to which I was going to stand down or otherwise change my position.”
“So I thought it was a good time just to tell the president that he should start looking for a replacement,” he added.
THOM TILLIS ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT AFTER OPPOSING TRUMP TAX BILL
The North Carolina senator, whose term expires in 2027, also said he only would have run if he was “convinced that there was a path.”
“I’m not the happy warrior type that would just run for the sake of running,” he said.