Tillis mocked the Comey seashell prosecution. He OK'd Trump's judicial nominees who worked on it.

Tillis publicly ridiculed the April prosecution of James Comey over a seashell photo, calling the prosecutor a 'bonehead' who should be fired.
Despite that blistering critique, Tillis voted to confirm two North Carolina attorneys for lifetime federal judgeships—both of whom worked on the very same case.
The nominees' involvement in the Trump-era political vendetta raises fresh questions about the GOP's commitment to due process over partisan loyalty.
Tillis' 'damn sure they have information' demand was apparently satisfied by a resume, not the shoddy legal theory he mocked.
The senator's about-face suggests judicial confirmations are less about merit and more about checking loyalty boxes.
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impact
This is a masterclass in political doublespeak that should make every voter's cynical antennas twitch. Tillis stood on the Senate floor and trashed a prosecution as a baseless political hit job, only to rubber-stamp the very legal minds behind it for the ultimate get-out-of-jail card: a lifetime appointment. If he truly believed those lawyers were 'boneheads' who should be canned, handing them a federal bench is the equivalent of promoting a pyromaniac to fire chief.
For the average reader, this isn't just inside-the-Beltway trivia—it's a reminder that your vote for a senator is a vote for who gets to wear a black robe and interpret the Constitution for decades. Tillis is signaling that competence and ethics are negotiable if the nominee plays nice with the Trump ecosystem. If you care about an independent judiciary—or at least one not staffed by the cast of a political revenge drama—this is your cue to start checking local judicial records and question every 'yes' vote in the next confirmation hearing.
summary
Sen. Thom Tillis has a well-documented knack for appearing principled while operating on pure political pragmatism. In August, he lambasted the federal prosecution of James Comey as a ridiculous, evidence-free spectacle—specifically calling out the 'bonehead' lawyer in North Carolina who brought the indictment over a seashell photo allegedly threatening the president. The senator even demanded that said prosecutor be fired if the case was built on nothing but a picture.
But in a stunning about-face that would give a chameleon whiplash, Tillis just gave his blessing to two of those exact lawyers for lifetime appointments to the federal bench. The apparent contradiction matters not to the senator, who seems to draw the line at criticizing the case for the cameras while quietly greasing the wheels for the same legal team via backroom confirmations. It's a move that confirms the only consistent thing about Washington is the whiplash between public outrage and private deals.
key_points
Tillis' vocal August mockery of the Comey seashell case is now an albatross around his neck, given his subsequent vote to confirm the lawyers who pursued it.
The nominees' key credential appears to be their role in a prosecution Tillis deemed a baseless political stunt—hardly the hallmark of judicial temperament.
This episode underscores a broader GOP trend of prioritizing fealty to Trump over impartial justice, as lifetime appointments become rewards for partisan service.
For voters, it's a tangible example of how senators' rhetorical tough talk on government overreach often evaporates when their own party's judges are on the line.

Brief Summary

Sen. Thom Tillis has a well-documented knack for appearing principled while operating on pure political pragmatism. In August, he lambasted the federal prosecution of James Comey as a ridiculous, evidence-free spectacle—specifically calling out the 'bonehead' lawyer in North Carolina who brought the indictment over a seashell photo allegedly threatening the president. The senator even demanded that said prosecutor be fired if the case was built on nothing but a picture.

Why This Matters

This is a masterclass in political doublespeak that should make every voter's cynical antennas twitch. Tillis stood on the Senate floor and trashed a prosecution as a baseless political hit job, only to rubber-stamp the very legal minds behind it for the ultimate get-out-of-jail card: a lifetime appointment. If he truly believed those lawyers were 'boneheads' who should be canned, handing them a federal bench is the equivalent of promoting a pyromaniac to fire chief.