Man in a suit standing on stage at a conference, with a podium displaying the CPAC logo and colorful lighting in the background.

Man in a suit standing on stage at a conference, with a podium displaying the CPAC logo and colorful lighting in the background.
Credit: Gage Skidmore

The DC Swamp is panicking, and the slimiest creatures are finally exposing themselves.

An explosive new leaked email obtained by conservative journalist Vince Coglianese, the host of “The VINCE Show,” the “VINCE” podcast, and editorial director of The Daily Caller, reveals North Carolina RINO Senator Thom Tillis completely melting down behind the scenes.

In a pathetic message sent directly to his GOP colleagues, Tillis throws a massive temper tantrum over the DOJ’s anti-weaponization fund, gripes that President Trump kept pushing the SAVE America Act, and lashes out at Senator Tommy Tuberville for having the audacity to call out Tillis and other RINOs by name for blocking one of the President’s top priorities.

As The Gateway Pundit reported just days ago, Tillis was one of the four Republicans, along with Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitch McConnell, who joined Democrats to kill the SAVE America Act amendment during the recent vote-a-rama.

He has also threatened to sink Trump nominees and publicly blasted the very anti-weaponization fund he now pretends to care about only because it might hurt squishy Republicans in tough races.

Tillis is retiring at the end of this year. This email reads like his bitter parting shot at the base and at the President who keeps demanding results.

Below is the full unedited leaked email from RINO Thom Tillis, according to Coglianese:

Colleagues,

I hope you all have had an opportunity to get some rest after another vote-a-rama. I’m sure most of you would prefer to move forward, but I believe we will look back at this experience as yet another reason why we will have historic headwinds against us in November.

We missed an opportunity to remove a political albatross (the 1776 Fund) from around the necks of our colleagues who are in cycle. Instead, we added weight to that albatross by having 41 members vote to protect the program. In addition, we allowed two SAVE Act votes that had no place in vote-a-rama, which prompted a circular firing squad led by Tommy Tuberville and some of our republican colleagues.

I cannot understand why a supermajority of our conference voted against the side-by-side I offered. I went forward with offering the amendment at the request of members in cycle. The amendment simply ended the 1776 payout pot AND appropriated $1.7 BILLION to the DoJ fraud initiative.

I knew most democrats would not vote for my amendment because of the DoJ funding, but I thought it would be a good landing place for members to voice their concerns with the 1776 fund. How did I know democrats would vote AGAINST it? I asked them. They simply would not support the DoJ/Fraud funding, which is precisely why I had the provision in the amendment. The chance of this amendment passing and threatening the privilege of the underlying bill was ZERO.

If you voted against my amendment because you were afraid it would strip the reconciliation bill of privilege, you were misinformed or a victim of groupthink. If you did for that reason, you should have voted against the SAVE Act for the same reason. Had either version of the SAVE Act been adopted, the underlying bill would also have been at risk of losing privilege.

We took a major risk with the SAVE Act had democrats wanted to meddle. If I had been a democratic leader, I would have convinced a sufficient number of democrats to vote for it, and, immediately after it was adopted, I would have argued it was fatal to the privilege of the underlying bill.

But the real problem I have is that the President (and a few of our members?) forced us to take two more unsuccessful votes for the SAVE Act at the expense of our most vulnerable members in cycle. Susan Collins rightfully voted against it, representing her home state of Maine, which voted against it by nearly a 65/35 margin in a 2025 referendum. Rural state senators voted for it, but now they must explain why shutting down mail-in ballots, ending early voting, and complicating registration is a good thing for rural voters in big states. Other members will need to account for their past positions in support of the state laws that would be repealed or preempted if the SAVE Act passes.

Even worse, Tommy Tuberville and others initiated a circular firing squad calling out Susan Collins and other republicans by name. Amazing: Members NOT in cycle attacking our most at-risk member because she supports the view of 65% of the voters in her state.

Tommy Tuberville said: “It was beyond EMBARRASSING that “Republicans” continue to block the SAVE America Act, [Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell, and Susan Collins] have not only betrayed their constituents – they are ACCOMPLICES in Democrats’ “Illegals First” agenda. The people of North Carolina, Alaska, Kentucky, and Maine deserve better.”

I find this remarkable on several levels, but you would think a member of Tommy’s comms team who has a spouse working on the NRSC’s leadership team could see how this is only helpful to Susan’s opponent. Do these people talk? Other members have referred to those who oppose nuking the filibuster and passing the SAVE Act as “traitors” and “defectors” on social media.

Everyone knew the SAVE Act votes would fail, yet we went ahead anyway because the President requested them at the expense of our members. This simply prompted more attacks on our own, which I assume was the President’s goal.

Three of our most vulnerable members were already forced to vote on the first Schumer amendment, focused on the 1776 fund and the motion to commit. Cassidy and I voted against it to give our members room to vote for it.

After that vote, I informed the most vulnerable in-cycle members that I would vote however a majority of them wanted me to. If it meant voting with them or, like the Schumer amendment, against them, I offered them my proxy for the night. I am not suggesting that you give members your proxy, but I am suggesting forcing votes that have no upside for in-cycle members AND attacking them when they vote is not helpful to saving our majority. I get in Tuberville’s case it was likely to help boost him in the Alabama governor’s race, but was it really worth calling Susan Collins an “embarrassing accomplice who betrayed her constituents?”

Based on last week’s reconciliation experience, I hope we have learned a lesson that will not be repeated if we choose to move another reconciliation bill in this congress. In my opinion, last week’s vote was a net loss for in-cycle members. I am not diminishing the importance of funding DHS, but the “gain” from that will not offset the “pain” we’ve created in key races.

The road to holding our majority is already difficult. We cannot afford any more unforced errors like this between now and November.

Respectfully, Thom T.

The post LEAKED: RINO Thom Tillis Throws a Tantrum in Private Email to GOP Colleagues — Whines About Trump’s “Constant Push” for SAVE America Act, Defends Susan Collins, and Attacks Tommy Tuberville for Calling Out Republican Betrayers by Name appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.