Paywall. What does it say?
What he said before: Tillis took the bold step of not just opposing Trump’s national emergency, but actually writing
a Washington Post op-ed explaining why. After the senator, who is up for reelection in 2020, got some pushback from fellow Republicans, he told The Post’s Seung Min Kim: “
It’s never a tough vote for me when I’m standing on principle.”
By midweek, though, it was clear Tillis was looking for a way out. He tried to help forge a compromise in which a president’s national emergency powers would be curtailed so he and others could vote with Trump.
What he did Thursday: Even though no compromise was reached, Tillis pulled a complete reversal and
voted with Trump.
“A lot has changed over the last three weeks,” Tillis maintained. “A discussion with the vice president, a number of senior administration officials, a lot of collaboration with my colleague from Utah [Sen. Mike Lee] that’s a serious discussion about changing the National Emergencies Act in a way that will have Congress speak on emergency actions in the future . . . As late as today the president makes a statement that he’s willing to work with us.”
He maintained after the vote that this was
not because he was worried about a primary challenge.