The two Republican senators whom President Donald Trump deemed “losers” for saying that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem needed to step aside sniped back at the president.
“I’m kind of excited about being called a ‘loser,’” Sen. Thom Tillis told The Independent. “Apparently that qualifies me to be DHS secretary AND senior adviser to the president.”
Tillis of North Carolina and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska had both called on Noem to resign after the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, by Customs and Border Protection officials. Noem and others officials immediately labeled Pretti a “domestic terrorist.” Noem claimed that he had brandished a handgun before being shot, but video showed that did not happen.
In response, calls for her job have increased on both sides of the political aisle and in public.
On Wednesday, the president blasted both senators in an interview with ABC News.
“Well, they're both losers,” he said. “You know, what can I tell you? They're terrible senators. One is gone and the other should be gone.”
Tillis announced last year that he would not seek re-election after opposing Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill.” Tillis has repeatedly criticized White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller for his talk about taking Greenland by military force.
Trump told ABC News that “Tillis decided to drop out. So you know, he lost his voice once he did that.”
But Tillis said he did not care.
“I never really wanted a voice here, I try to stay out of the way of folks who try to rush to the cameras,” he told The Independent. Tillis also laughed at the idea of being called a “loser.”
Murkowski responded in a similar way.
“You know, he obviously disagrees with my assessment of the job that Secretary Noem is doing, and ultimately it’s his call as to who he keeps in this position,” she told The Independent.
Murkowski told The Independent that last year she had voted to confirm Noem but would likely not do so today.
“It's his call as to who he keeps in this position, whether it's Secretary Noem or someone else, I understand that, and he'll decide,” she said. “I think he deserves better.”
Trump and Murkowski have had a contentious relationship. Murkowski voted against his attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act and voted to convict him for his actions on Jan. 6.
In Trump’s second term, she voted against the confirmation of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel. Murkowski also voted for the One Big, Beautiful Bill that gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement $75 billion.
After the killing of Pretti, Murkowski called for a full investigation, along with a handful of other Republicans.
But even Senate Majority Leader John Thune criticized calling Pretti a domestic terrorist.
“You had a citizen in this country killed, but, you know, based on the evidence that I've seen so far, that wouldn't be a characterization I would use,” he told The Independent.
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