Tim Scott says Trump should take down ‘offensive’ Twitter video of protester shouting ‘white power’

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said President Trump should take down the “offensive” video he retweeted Sunday morning praising people who can be heard saying the phrase “white power.” 

“There’s no question he should not have retweeted it, and he should just take it down,” Scott said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” 

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Scott, the only Black Republican senator, if the video offends him.

“Does it offend you, though? I mean, it offends me, and I’m white,” Tapper said. 

“If you watch the entire video — you can’t play it because it was so profanity-laced. The entire thing was offensive. Certainly the comment about the white power was offensive. There’s no question,” Scott responded. 

“He should not have retweeted and he should just take it down… It is indefensible,” GOP Sen. Tim Scott reacts to the video President Trump shared of a man driving a golf cart with Trump campaign posters, chanting “white power.” #CNNSOTU https://t.co/76wZzokkUw pic.twitter.com/4zk2rFndcP

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) June 28, 2020

Scott added, however, that he wasn’t going to “play politics” with the video. 

“We can play politics with it, or we can’t. I’m not going to,” he said, adding again that Trump should take the video down. 

Trump on Sunday morning tweeted a video featuring people in a golf cart with “Trump 2020” flags. At least one man can be heard yelling the phrase “white power.” 

“Thank you to the great people of The Villages. The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!!” Trump said in a post retweeting the video. 

Former White House national security adviser John Bolton also told Tapper it’s “entirely possible” Trump tweeted the video without even hearing the man say the phrase “white power.” 

“I would just make this observation: He doesn’t pay attention to a lot of things. It’s entirely possible he tweeted this video because he saw the sign,” Bolton said, referring to the “Trump 2020” sign. “And that’s all he needed to see.” 

He did not totally dismiss the idea that Trump did hear the message before tweeting the video, though.