Sen. Rick Scott supports the House investigations of the Biden family, saying, “let’s get the facts.”
“I don’t think anybody wakes up any day and says, ‘Oh, gosh, we hope our president gets impeached.’ Nobody wants to do that,” says Scott in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal.
The Florida Republican has praise for the GOP House investigations about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s involvement in alleged millions of dollars worth of foreign bribery, intimidation, and influence peddling, saying “what the House is doing is right.”
Earlier this week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News host Sean Hannity of the House investigations: “This is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry.”
“They are going through a very deliberate process to say, ‘Do [the president’s] actions warrant impeachment?’” Scott continues, adding: “They’re doing it the opposite way that the Democrats did with [then-President Donald] Trump. [Democrats] said, ‘We’re going to impeach this guy. Let’s find something he did wrong.’”
Several Republican senators have cautioned their House counterparts concerning impeaching Biden, suggesting that it could be akin to Democrats’ “cheapening” the impeachment process.
“Do I think it’s good for this country that our presidents get impeached?” asks Scott. “No, but you’re not above the law. You’ve got to follow our Constitution. If you don’t, that’s when you get impeached.”
The Florida senator also notes Congress is supposed to do oversight: “It’s our job to hold the president and the entire executive branch accountable, and if we just say, ‘Oh, we’re not going to do our jobs for the next year-and-a-half,’ that’s wrong.”
“Let’s get the facts,” he adds.
As House Republicans grill Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the southern U.S. border and immigration policy enforcement, there has been talk of impeaching Mayorkas.
Scott says the secretary, who he did not vote to confirm, “should resign.”
“When I interviewed him, he told me that he was going to enforce the law,” says Scott. “He told me that he was going to prove me wrong — that I should have voted for him — but he’s done just the opposite. I think he ought to resign.”
When it comes to the Senate Republican conference, Scott says he believes he faced “complete retribution” for challenging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s position as the head of Senate Republicans in November. Ultimately, ten Senate Republicans voted for Scott over McConnell, leaving McConnell’s perch as GOP senate leader secure.
“Mike Lee and I were both kicked off of the Commerce Committee, because Mike seconded my nomination to be the [Senate] Republican leader,” says Scott, referencing the Utah Republican senator. “I had been on the Commerce Committee since I got up here.”
“I’ve probably run the biggest company of anybody that’s ever been in the Senate, so it’s just fascinating. It’s complete retribution,” he adds.
Scott told The Daily Signal that how he’s been treated flies in the face of typical Senate procedure: “I think it’s completely wrong. Usually, the way it works up here is that you get to choose your preference on committees, and you generally get your preferences. So, in my case, I’ve got two ‘A’ committees. There are other senators that have as many as five.”
“We know it’s wrong, but the way I look at it is: I’m going to do my best to represent my state,” he says. “I can’t control what other people do, so I’m just going to keep doing my job.”
Scott, who was elected in 2018 after serving as Florida’s governor for two terms, is now eying his reelection bid.
“Just this week, we announced that now 59 of the 66 sheriffs in the state have endorsed me for reelection,” he says. “I think about what people care about: They care about their livelihood. That’s having a job, inflation, and things like that. They care about their kids’ education, and they care about public safety.”
“The truth is, without public safety, you don’t get the first two. So, building a good relationship with the law enforcement community and helping them succeed is about the biggest thing you can do to help any citizen in your state.”
Asked what his message is to the everyday Americans who have lost trust in the Republican Party and the federal government to address the apparent lack of accountability and oversight, Scott urges people to vote and says: “Well, this is your country. There’s no better country. There’s no place to move to that would give you the freedoms you have in this country.”
“So, I think it’s our job to fight like hell to preserve our Constitution and our way of life,” he says.
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