President Trump tore into Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.) on Friday morning after the Republican lawmaker criticized the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) newly debuted “anti-weaponization fund.”

“I called him a ‘Nitpicker,’ always fighting against the Republican Party, and ME, mostly on things that didn’t matter,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

The president referred to Tillis’s decision to retire following repeated clashes between the North Carolina senator and the White House.

“The media said how brave he was to take me on, but he wasn’t brave, he was just the opposite – HE WAS A QUITTER!” Trump wrote.

“Now he can have all the fun he wants for a few months, with some of his RINO friends, screwing the Republican Party,” he continued, using an acronym for “Republican in name only.”

The president added, “In the end it will only get bigger, and better, and stronger, than ever before!!!”

On Thursday, Tillis called on his fellow Republican lawmakers to “speak up” against the administration’s move in comments to reporters aired by CNN.

“This is beyond the pale. This is not good for my colleagues,” he said.

“There’s not one positive thing that could be spun out of this between now and November,” the GOP lawmaker continued. “This is bad policy, it’s bad timing and it’s bad politics.”

The DOJ announced the creation of a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” on Monday as part of a settlement the president reached with the IRS, in exchange for which he agreed to drop a $10 billion lawsuit against the agency over leaked tax documents.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund is intended “for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”

Critics have expressed concern that the fund could be used to pay Trump’s allies and people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Some of the rioters, who received pardons from the president when he returned to office, still have pending lawsuits against the government.

Tillis knocked the idea of Jan. 6 rioters receiving government payouts from this fund.

“These people don’t deserve restitution. Many of them deserve to be in prison,” he told reporters Thursday.

Several of the president’s allies have already indicated they would seek payouts from this fund, including My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, former Trump campaign official Michael Caputo, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and a right-wing news outlet. Former FBI Director James Comey, who has been targeted by the Trump administration over an alleged threat to the president, has also expressed interest in this fund.

In another Truth Social post early Friday, Trump defended the fund and claimed he “gave up a lot of money” for its creation.

“I could have settled my case, including the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal BREAK IN of Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune,” he wrote. “Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!”

Blanche has also doubled down on his defense of the fund, claiming “people that hurt police get money all the time.”

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