During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday, GOP Sen. Rick Scott repeatedly hedged around questions about Trump’s ongoing efforts to undermine democracy as host Chuck Todd pressed him to explain why so many Republicans falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen by President Joe Biden.
Scott, who voted to overturn the 2020 election result in Trump’s favor, was asked to comment on a recent MSNBC poll that showed that just 22% of Republicans believe President Joe Biden was legitimately elected, The Huffington Post reports.
“Why is that?” Todd asked during the interview.
“I can tell you Joe Biden is the president. We went through the constitutional process that, you know, he was elected,” Scott said. “Now, I do believe there’s a lot of buyer’s remorse,” he added, criticizing Biden on inflation and his withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Don't Miss
“I understand what you’re saying,” Todd interrupted, “but why ― then you’re part of the 22% that believe he was legitimately elected. Why do four in five Republicans not believe that?”
“You’d have to ask them,” the Florida Republican said, not mentioning the fact that Trump and his allies in politics and right-wing media have continuously spread disinformation and doubt about the election.
“I think Joe Biden was elected president,” Scott continued. “I think, but you know, what we’ve got to do right now, we’ve got to figure out how do we start helping these families, because I can tell you what, in D.C., that’s not happening.”
“Senator, I think we both know the reason why that is,” Todd said. “And let me put up something that the former president put out on Oct. 21st. Not, like, six months ago. This is, like, three weeks ago.”
A noted by HuffPost, Trump issued a statement on Oct. 21 trying to justify the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, saying, “The insurrection took place on November 3rd, Election Day. January 6th was the protest.”
“Is there any part of that statement that you agree with?” Todd asked the senator.
Scott dodged the question and instead pivoted to criticizing Democrats for focusing on Trump and saying that Republicans would win in the 2022 midterms “because we’re going to talk about issues. We’re not going to talk about the last election.”
Watch:
WATCH: Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who's charged with helping GOP get control of the Senate, responds to Trump's comments from weeks ago that reiterate false claims of a stolen election.@chucktodd: "Why hasn't President Trump conceded?"
"I think you'd have to ask Donald Trump." pic.twitter.com/q2rWI326L0
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) November 7, 2021
