Tim Scott says Trump asked for help after Charlottesville remarks
Sen Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said in a new interview he first became close with President Trump shortly after white supremacists marched through Charlottesville, Va., in a rally that turned fatal, when Trump angered many with comments that there were “very fine people on both sides."
“He wanted me to share with him my perspective,” Scott recalled during an interview aired Thursday with Ainsley Earhardt on Fox News. “He listened, and after we finished talking, he said, 'Help me help those I have offended.'”
“The Charlottesville incident made our relationship what it is today,” he added.
During Trump’s first year in office, a group of white supremacists held a “Unite the Right'' rally in Charlottesville. Violent clashes erupted in during the march between neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan and counterprotesters. A white supremacist rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, injuring 35 and killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer in what was ruled a hate crime.
The neo-Nazis and members of the KKK were marching in protest of a decision by the city to take down Confederate monuments in the wake of the 2015 shooting at a Black church in South Carolina, where a white supremacist killed 9 people.
Trump came under heavy criticism after holding a press conference in the wake of the violence where he said blame fell on “many sides” and that there were "very fine people" on both sides of the clash.
In the days after Trump’s comments, Scott also criticized Trump, saying in a Vice News interview, "What we want to see from our president is clarity and moral authority. And that moral authority is compromised.”
Scott added that he would not “defend the indefensible.”
After Scott’s comments, he was invited to speak with Trump at the White House.
After that meeting in 2017, Scott told reporters the meeting was productive and toned down his criticism of Trump.
“I think my comments about the compromise of moral authority was based on America’s reaction. I think the restoration of moral authority will be based on America’s reaction. It will take time,” he said at the time.
After that meeting, Trump and Scott also worked on passing opportunity zones as part of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. During his interview with Fox, he credited that original meeting for its passage. Opportunity zones created incentives for businesses to invest in low-income areas.
“That's how opportunity zones was born,” he said during the interview with Fox.
Scott spoke with Fox News this week as part of a series of interviews with potential vice presidential candidates for Trump. The channel have also interviewed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R).
When Earhardt asked Scott if he knew whether Trump had made his decision for a running mate, he said, “Yeah.”
He then added, “Donald Trump can only speak for Donald Trump. I’ve learned one thing without any question: He listens, and he decides. I don’t know what his decision is.”
Scott said that the job would be “an honor.”