Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Sunday dodged CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s question on whether he would have certified President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win over Donald Trump had he been vice president on Jan. 6, 2021.
Tapper noted how Scott’s fellow vice presidential hopefuls, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), have both said they wouldn’t have done so had they been in the shoes of then-Vice President Mike Pence.
“Would you have?” Tapper pointedly asked Scott.
Scott said he wasn’t “going to answer hypothetical questions,” claimed he “didn’t know that I was a vice presidential hopeful,” thanked Tapper “for letting me know where I am on the scale” before pivoting to lavishing praise on former President Donald Trump.
“Having four more years of President Donald Trump means that we’ll have low inflation, low crime, we’ll have record low unemployment,” said Scott, who ran against Trump in the GOP presidential primary but then abandoned his campaign in November to become one of the biggest boosters of his onetime rival.
Tapper looked unimpressed with the response. The anchor later noted how Scott had voted to certify the election results in the Senate and had previously said Pence “absolutely did the right thing.”
“I have not changed my view,” said Scott, who was mocked last month for telling Trump on stage, “I just love you.”
Scott then added to Tapper, “You are asking a hypothetical question that you know can never happen again. That’s the challenge. What CNN and you are focused on are the past, America’s voters are focused on the future.”
Scott then said he wanted to focus on the “primary issues confronted by the American people.”
