The following is the transcript of the interview with Sen. Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Oct. 25, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to North Carolina Republican Senator Tom Tillis, who joins us from Charlotte this morning. Good morning to you, sir.
SENATOR THOM TILLIS: Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you to be a bit of a pundit before we get into some policy. CBS polling shows voters see corruption as a major factor, 83% see it as a concern in determining their vote, and they see it as more of an issue with Republicans. How does your party overcome this perception?
SEN. TILLIS: Well, I think a part of what we have to do is be open about what we’ve done right and where we’ve kind of skated into the gray area. I’ll give you a good example of why I think maybe people feel that way. You can’t have an oligarch pay tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for the president’s son’s wedding and not make it look odd, particularly when that oligarch is aligned with Putin and has gone on delegations with Putin to Beijing. That’s just one example. What we need to do is learn the rule of figure out where the line is and take a step back, or American people are already predisposed to assume Democrats and Republicans are corrupt. We’re just feeding that narrative when we let things like that happen, whether it’s legal or not. It’s irrelevant.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah. Well, it seems Democrats may be carrying out some scrutiny if they do win the majority. You will not be in the Senate at that time. You’re retiring. And you were deeply frustrated by Republicans when they passed this tax and spending bill on a party-line vote that included cuts to Medicaid, and will deeply affect rural hospitals. In your state, more than 25 percent of people rely on Medicaid. I know North Carolina is trying to patch things up here to plan ahead. Do you still expect devastating health care cuts in the new year?
SEN. TILLIS: We’re going to have significant headwinds. It’s really a 10-year impact if you take a look at the original bill. And by the way, I supported the tax provisions of the bill, it was the health care provisions beyond what the House has proposed that are problematic, and it’s going to take time. What I was trying to do was not necessarily get rid of the cuts, but try to affect their timing. I think they’re coming too soon, and I have a lot of experience with the state budget here in North Carolina, understanding Medicaid. I believe it’s going to be very, very challenging, and we’re going to have to get it- we’ve got our work cut out for us because some of those impacts could also feed right into the 2029 election.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So healthcare will be a big factor in that election, is your prediction? It sounds like. I want to ask you–
SEN. TILLIS: — Absolutely–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –a bit about what I engaged with the attorney general on. In- in recent weeks, the Justice Department has filed this case up in Alaska to preemptively challenge the outcome there. Out in California, DOJ also told election officials they’ll risk “legal consequences” if they continue to send vote-by-mail ballots to a list of voters they say are not confirmed citizens. And then there was, of course, this action taken against Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, though she has not been charged with a crime. Do you see a pattern here, and are you comfortable with these actions this close to an election?
SEN. TILLIS: Well, I think we have to be careful. First, you got to take them separately. California has been guilty of ballot harvesting. They have a policy to do it. They have a system there that is ripe for abuse and they need to be looked at. Alaska has a candidate who just coincidentally happens to be the same name as my friend and colleague who came in with me in 2014, and they also have ranked choice voting. So I think it’s appropriate to take a look at it. I’m not sure why they thought they had to file a lawsuit, other than as Todd said earlier, make sure that you have the ballots right, so we can be certain that the Democrats were not successful in confusing candidates to vote for someone else to better position Peltola for- for being the winner. And with respect to Omar, I’ve got to look at the details there, but I found it very concerning. You know, as a member of Congress, you better have a very, very high bar to issue a subpoena and- and a search warrant, and the- the facts better be there. Otherwise, the DOJ needs to be held accountable. It’s that simple. I’d say the same thing if it was a- and I have in the past in a Biden administration where I felt like they were moving a little bit out ahead of their skis, they better have the facts to substantiate their action.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I guess that gets to the timing of it all because the action itself draws attention and scrutiny whether or not the cases actually have legs to them. But up in Alaska, your Republican colleague Lisa Murkowski, the other Republican senator said the DOJ should never have filed the lawsuit. She said when it came to the ballot, Alaskans don’t need help picking a preferred candidate. The state already handled this by distinguishing the candidates on the ballot, and the Department of Justice should never have filed the lawsuit. You sit on Judiciary. I mean, what are the consequences? Will there be any?
SEN. TILLIS: Well, there are very few people that know Alaska better than Lisa. To be honest with you, Lisa Murkowski is a friend and an extraordinary member of the U.S. Senate. I agree that- I think the lawsuit- I mean, filing a lawsuit before anything that could be substantiated that’s a legal question–
(CROSSTALK)
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Even before the–
SEN. TILLIS: –is suspicious to me–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –election is held.
(END CROSSTALK)
SEN. TILLIS: –I’m on judiciary, but I’m not an attorney- Yeah, that’s what I mean. It’s almost a preemptive, a presumptive posture versus simply telling the Alaska election officials we’re going to be watching this closely because clearly Democrats game the system by having a Dan Sullivan on the ballot. Either the Democrat Party, there’s some evidence to suggest that Chuck Schumer may have even been involved. So I don’t mind looking at it, but I do mind the- the appearance of filing a lawsuit before we even know if the facts that would substantiate a lawsuit actually occur.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, that Dan- other Dan Sullivan claims he’s he’s not a Democrat, but there has been reporting that a Democratic strategist may have helped him along the way, but that is something that–
SEN. TILLIS: –It’s a strange coincidence. We can all admit that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: No doubt, no doubt. But the state has handled it, and clearly the senator thinks handled it well. I want to get back to Vladimir Putin because you have been very vocal in recent days about your concern here with President Trump and his actions. Just yesterday, Elon Musk said the SpaceX satellite services have been restored, and Senator Cramer of North Dakota, who was on this program last week, told us though he is concerned one person or one company just has too much control over America’s ability to protect the domain of space. You know, people might be confused over which service was switched on and off and to what degree, but the bigger picture issue here that your Republican colleagues seem concerned about is just how much control Elon Musk has over defense. Do you share that concern?
SEN. TILLIS: Yeah, I do, and I have a concern with the whole narrative that played out. Elon Musk, I was trying to put pressure on everyone to own responsibility for this. Elon Musk originally said he didn’t do it. Then we start focusing on the administration, and now we hear Elon says that he did, and- and also to the American people, many members of Congress, this distinction between Starlink and Starshield. Are you telling me- and I agree with Kevin Cramer; he’s a great senator also. Are you telling me that we don’t know something as important as- as a tool that’s being used by our Western nations is subject to the whims of one CEO, and that there’s some other the- star defense is that controlled by him, controlled by somebody in DoD? We need answers to this question, and I’m not satisfied. I’m glad that the capabilities back up. Shame on whoever is responsible for it ever having elapsed. People died in that intervening time. But what I want to know more importantly is what, to what extent, is the Department of Defense and- and the U.S. government involved in this? I get it’s a private company, but they’re playing into military space, geopolitical space. That there’s got to be some guardrails- guardrails and accountability, in my opinion.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I know you helped organize a call with Senator Blumenthal and President Zelensky this past week to try to get some clarity around this. From what you know, are all of the arrangements to expand access to let Ukraine target inside of Russia is all of that on hold right now?
SEN. TILLIS: You know the best we can tell you when we’re thankful for doing nothing more than reestablishing the current capabilities, I am concerned that we’re not expanding it. Look, there is a bad guy and there is a- a good country in the mix here. The bad guy is Vladimir Putin. The good country is Ukraine. We like the other Western European nations, need to support them, expand capabilities, and defeat Putin. Putin is no friend. There is no such thing as a win-win when you’re dealing with a despot, a totalitarian in the Western world. So we- we need to plus up that capability, not simply be thankful for getting something back that was working fine two weeks ago, was working okay when I was in Ukraine just a month ago.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So in the back and forth over exactly what was turned off and why Russia was able to hit inside of Ukraine so much over the past 10 days, it came to light that there were also failures of the early warning system. Two, if not three, the BC-3 systems did not detect incoming Russian ballistic missiles into Ukraine. Secretary Rubio was asked about this, and he talked about technical issues. That sounds deeply concerning. I mean, does this mean that Russia can subvert American early warning systems, or are we misunderstanding that?
SEN. TILLIS: I think that’s a legitimate question. That’s why I think this whole timeline needs to be examined, probably in a- in a secured setting, not necessarily in a public hearing. But we need to go through that entire timeline and say, seriously, guys, we’re that vulnerable. I don’t think we are, and so I’m beginning to think that maybe we’re finessing around the reality that somebody needs to own the lapse in service, and it became- it came at the same time the Starlink or Star-StarShield capabilities went down. Let’s just map this out, folks. I don’t mind the American people. Don’t mind people making mistakes or maybe having a policy that they decide they got to- they’ve got to reverse. But this sort of “who’s on first” game being played with who actually called this, who’s responsible for it’s unacceptable. We’re the greatest natio-We’re an exceptional nation, greatest nation on earth. This is a simple question. We should have simple answers for it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we will continue to try to get answers, sir. Thank you, Senator, for your time today.
SEN. TILLIS: Thank you.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we will be right back.
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