Fox News "The Story with Martha MacCallum" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Thom Tillis

Interview

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MACCALLUM: So that was July 17, just eight days before that July 25th phone call which led to today's impeachment hearing. He was alongside North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis who is a tight race ahead in the reelection for 2020 like many of his fellow Republican colleagues Susan Collins in Maine, Cory Gardner in Colorado. All three of their faith could hinge on the President's impeachment trial which may be underway.

Joining me now is Republican Senator Thom Tillis, member of the Judiciary Committee. Senator, good to have you here tonight.

SEN. THOM TILLIS, R-N.C.: Good evening, Martha.

MACCALLUM: Is that where you think this is headed. Do you think it ends up in the Senate? You just heard Eric Trump saying he hopes so because he hopes that you all will be able to call some witnesses that we're not seeing this time around.

TILLIS: Well, I think so. I think what we saw today is nothing more than a public version of what they've been doing for the past several weeks. Their star witness today admitted he's never met the president. He wasn't on the phone call with him and he was providing us second and third-hand accounts.

The fact of the matter is the aid flowed to the Ukraine. There's no evidence in the transcript we've all read that there was any offer of a quid pro quo. So this feels a lot like the Special Counsel investigation and every other attempt for the Democrats to try and impeach the President since he won election.

MACCALLUM: Yes. You have a challenger on the GOP side Garland Tucker who's worn a lot of money into this race. How concerned are you about that and what's the temperature of the people in North Carolina? Do they care about what's going on with this impeachment and where do you stand?

TILLIS: I actually think the people in North Carolina care about what's not going on in Congress. We've got a National Defense Authorization Act that's been passed for 58 straight years. It's hanging in the balance now. We have a number of things that the American people want to see done. And their patience I think is beginning to run to the -- to the end on this continuous march for impeachment. Let's get the USMCA passed. Let's get the National Defense Authorization passed.

MACCALLUM: You think there's any help with that at all at this point? I mean --

TILLIS: I hope so because the America -- if there's not, I think Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer need to know there's going to be a consequence for leaving a trade agreement that's going to help farmers and workers in the United States in an ash heap over on the House side.

I think that the National Defense Authorization and funding our military are things that people in North Carolina care about. And if they don't act on it, they're going to regret it next November.

MACCALLUM: So there's a Politico piece that says that there's a surprisingly plausible path to remove President Trump from office that includes a secret ballot. And it says, if you went through the secret ballot that way, it would only take three Republican senators to turn the impeachment vote. Is that a path that would ever happen, a secret ballot in the Senate?

TILLIS: Well, let me tell you this. The secret ballot could only happen if every member of the U.S. Senate agreed to have a secret ballot. Count me in as an objection. There's no way that people are going to run away from their vote.

The President deserves a fair treatment. He's been treated unfairly to this point. And every single one of us needs to listen to the testimony and see a pattern of behavior that started before he was ever sworn into office.

Here's no new information coming out this week and I don't expect that there will be any before we see the articles of impeachment potentially come to the Senate.

MACCALLUM: Senator Thom Tillis, thank you, sir. Good to see you tonight.

TILLIS: Thank you, Martha.

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