Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said Tuesday he would support former President Trump as the party’s nominee for president, even if he’s convicted of a crime.
“Absolutely,” Scott told CNN’s Manu Raju about whether he’d support Trump if he’s found guilty in one of the criminal cases against him.
Scott, in his first response to the question, suggested he thought the indictments were politically motivated and not due to Trump’s conduct.
“I think any of our nominees, they’re going to try to go after for something, so I support Trump,” Scott told Raju.
Trump currently faces four criminal indictments, including two federal cases — one in New York and one in Georgia.
Two indictments relate to Trump’s efforts to stay in power following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Another relates to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 presidential election, and another charges Trump with willful retention of classified national defense information and obstructing justice.
The remarks from Scott came ahead of news that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would step down from his post as leader this coming November. McConnell has faced growing pressure to endorse the former president, who is the front-runner in the GOP primary, as the vast majority of Senate Republicans have fallen in line behind Trump.
Asked in the same interview Tuesday whether he thought it was a problem that McConnell had not endorsed Trump, Scott told Raju, “I’ve endorsed Trump; he’s going to be our nominee, and he’s going to be the next president.”
“Everybody gets to decide how they want, what they want to do,” Scott added. “Look, I want a president that’s going to secure the border; Trump will do it. I want a president that’s gonna have a better economy. Trump will do it. I want a person that doesn’t like war,” he said, before attacking President Biden on foreign and domestic policy matters.