Sen. Scott Disagreed With Trump Approach on Minneapolis Protests

Senator Tim Scott (R- SC) said on Fox News Sunday that he doesn’t believe some of President Donald Trump’s tweets in the past week on Minneapolis and the protests and riots going on have been “constructive.”Show more

Scott spoke with Chris Wallace said the killing of George Floyd once again shows “the absolute devastation of too many African-American males, over too many decades, frankly.”

He brought up other instances where videos have shown the disturbing scene as it happened, bringing up that recent Central Park confrontation before saying, “There is a lower value on an African-American male life than it is on a white woman’s life. And that is part of what played out there and that is part of the significant thing that we need to focus on.”

At one point Wallace asked Scott about the president tweeting things like “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” and “Nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had, they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons.”

“Is that kind of talk from the president of the United States constructive at this moment?: Wallace asked.

“Well, those are not constructive tweets, without any question,” Scott responded. “I’ll say this, I spoke with the president yesterday morning and he and I had a good conversation about what are the next steps. I told him what I’m going to tell you, which is, Mr. President, it helps us when you focus on the death, the unjustified — in my opinion, the criminal death of George Floyd. Those tweets are very helpful. It is helpful when you say what you said yesterday, which is that it’s important for us to recognize the benefit of non-violent protests. It is helpful when you respond to my request to have the Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Barr, have a commission and a conversation around race and justice in this nation. Mr. President, it is helpful when you lead with compassion.”

Wallace jumped in to ask if he spoke “truth to power” about the president’s tweets.

“I used similar words that you just used,” Scott responded. “The president will listen if you engage him with the facts of the issue and then you ask him to focus his attention on making progress as one nation under God.”