GOP senator glad Trump advisers don't follow his orders to commit crimes

In a Wednesday interview, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) praised Trump for having “smart advisers” who prevented him from obstructing justice.  For Tillis, the fact that some people around Trump refused to engage in the crimes Trump ordered somehow reflects positively on Trump.

“I’ve read it and I don’t have anything, I don’t have any particular concerns,” Tillis told NC Policy Watch about the redacted report from special counsel Robert Mueller. When pressed as to whether had any concerns about Trump’s behavior outlined in the report, Tillis said he was happy with Trump.

“What I liked the most is about the smart people that he had advising him. Because that’s why at the end of the day they drew the conclusion there was no obstruction,” Tillis said.

First of all, Mueller made no such conclusion. In fact, Mueller went out of his way to lay out multiple instances where Trump ordered his staff to commit obstruction of justice, but those staff refused.

In one particularly glaring example, Trump told Don McGahn, then White House Counsel, to fire Mueller. McGahn refused to do so and threatened to quit because Trump kept asking him to do “crazy shit.” Trump later asked McGahn to lie about the interaction.

In another instance, Trump asked Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, to get then-FBI Director James Comey to stop the investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia. Coats refused, telling an aide he would not get involved in an active FBI investigation.

Contrary to the pro-Trump spin Tillis employs, Trump’s activities laid out in the Mueller report provide ample evidence that he committed obstruction of justice. “I’ve personally prosecuted obstruction cases on far, far less evidence than this,” Sally Yates, former deputy Attorney General, said recently. “And yes, I believe that if he were not the president of the United States, he would likely be indicted on obstruction.”

But for Tillis, such egregious behavior is not troubling in the least. Tillis is thrilled that Trump surrounds himself with people who refuse to carry out direct orders to commit felonies.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.