Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) admitted that the Justice Department under Donald Trump is weaponized but voted to promote Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, to the position of Attorney General anyway.

“Everybody has this view that they are as pure as the driven snow and it’s the other side that has a problem. I think we both have a problem, folks. If you want to talk about weaponization, take a look at the Biden administration, take a look at the Obama administration,” Tillis said.

“The bottom line is, nobody is clean here, and until we start recognizing this behavior as bad, we’re just going to one-up it,” he continued. “Maybe it’s a little bit more intense in this administration than the last one, and that a little bit more intense the prior administration, and so on and so forth, but folks, we’ve got to end this stuff. We do.”

In his role as acting attorney general, Blanche has brought a series of politically motivated cases against Trump’s perceived political enemies, including a case against former FBI Director Jame Comey over seashells.

Tillis and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) initially vowed to block the confirmation of Blanche for attorney general until they get written confirmation that the $1.8 billion slush fund to pay insurrectionists who assaulted police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6 is dead.

Both men caved after Blanche released a letter stating that the fund had been rescinded. But critics and legal experts argue the directive may be unenforceable because the underlying settlement agreement requires that it be modified only with the written agreement of all parties, and Trump did not sign the new action.

Tillis admitted on Monday that Blanche’s new letter is not legally binding but still voted to advance the nomination on Tuesday despite calling the fund a ‘payout pot for punks.’

“Now, could the president completely reverse things and create a new fund? He could, and then he can answer to the American people,” Tillis told reporters.

Tillis will not be returning to the Senate since he is resigning at the end of his term, while Cornyn lost his re-election to a Trump-backed primary opponent in Texas.

Blanche’s nomination narrowly advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It now heads to the full Senate for a vote. Republicans have a 53-seat majority. GOP leaders can afford to lose two Republicans if Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) remains absent and all 47 members of the Senate Democratic caucus oppose the nomination.