Tim Scott: Trump’s ‘shooting,’ ‘vicious dogs’ tweets ‘are not constructive’

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the sole African-American Republican in the upper chamber, said that President Trump’s tweets threatening demonstrators and looters with “shooting” and “vicious dogs” amid protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis are “not constructive,” but said the president has been receptive to his advice in private.

“Those are not constructive tweets, without any question,” Scott said on “Fox News Sunday” when asked about the tweets, adding that he had spoken to Trump in private and told him that “it helps us when you focus on the death, the unjustified, in my opinion, the criminal death of George Floyd.”

Floyd, an unarmed black man, died Monday after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on the back of his neck  for several minutes, ignoring his protests that he could not breathe. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been arrested on third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges.

Scott said on Sunday that the increased presence of video recording was likely the reason for Chauvin’s arrest, noting charges against two Georgia men in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a black jogger they pursued in a truck. Arbery died in February but the two were not charged until May, when video of the incident surfaced.

“When you read the [Minneapolis] police report, you come to the conclusion that it didn’t happen the way it happened,” Scott said.  “Thank God for video, thank God for film.”

Scott also praised the nonviolent demonstrations, saying “We’re seeing a lot of goodwill, we’re seeing diversity in protests that we did not see in the 60s.”

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and has called for an end to looting and vandalism, “would be proud of the nonviolent protesters that we’re seeing today,” Scott said

“Any violence in the midst of this simply takes away from the actual issue, which is that George Floyd lost his life, it looks like murder to me, let’s get the investigation started and finished,” Scott added.