Tim Scott deflects on Trump's ‘locked and loaded’ comment

Mia McCarthy
·2 min read
20

Sen. Tim Scott deflected questions about former President Donald Trump's "locked and loaded" comment Sunday morning, even while saying he doesn't agree with Attorney General Merrick Garland on anything.

"I haven't felt myself agreeing with Attorney General Garland on any issue. I will say I saw the video of the SWAT team from the FBI raiding Mar-a-Lago, I have not seen the same video of them raiding Joe Biden's garage,” Scott (R-S.C.) said when asked a second time if the rhetoric is dangerous. “So I'd love to have that comparison.”

Scott, a potential vice president pick who formerly ran against Trump in the GOP primaries, did not answer when host Dana Bash asked on CNN’s "State of the Union" whether he thought Trump’s comments that the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago “locked and loaded” were dangerous, particularly since the same language was used in an order for President Joe Biden.

Earlier in the week, Trump falsely claimed that FBI agents were “locked and loaded” and that he nearly escaped death when the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents in 2022. He was referring to a disclosure in a court document that says the FBI followed a standard use-of-force policy that prohibits the use of deadly force unless the officer has a reason to believe the subject poses a threat of death or physical injury.

Federal prosecutors are now seeking out a gag order in this case arguing his false, inflammatory statements pose a threat to law enforcement working on the case.

Scott continued to call the dozens of felony counts Trump faces a “two-tiered justice system” — despite Bash noting that the same deadly force language was used in an order for Biden in his classified documents case while he is president.

When pressed a third time on whether the South Carolina senator thought Trump's language was dangerous, Scott answered by saying that growing antisemitism on college campuses is the language that concerns him.

"The rhetoric that really concerns me is not coming out of emails, they are coming on college campuses when we're seeing the actual physical violence against our Jewish students playing out,” Scott said. “We're actually seeing violence on college campuses. And yet the Democratic Party sits there hands folded, letting it play out.”