Tim Scott Calls for Objective Approach to Senate Impeachment Trial

Scott spoke for over 40 minutes at the meeting, addressing the impeachment trial at the very beginning before taking questions and in response to the last question asked.

He said he was able to appear in Florence due to a planned delay in the impeachment trial. The Senate elected to begin the trial next Tuesday rather than on Friday because of Martin Luther King Day on Monday.

“It worked out where I had more time to come back home,” Scott said. “Anytime you have chance to come back home, you should say, ‘Thank you, Jesus.’”

Scott also said that more time spent in Washington makes him want to kiss the ground in South Carolina.

He said he was scheduled to speak at a school in Myrtle Beach on Friday, and things worked out for him to appear in Florence as well.

Scott was also scheduled to visit Vital Aging in Kingstree after the Florence stop.

At the end of the question-and-answer session, Scott was asked if the impeachment was a hoax.

“Is impeachment a hoax?” Scott asked. “I’m not sure of the definition of a hoax, but what I will tell you over the next two to four weeks, we will find out lots of information about the fact patterns that either do exist or don’t exist.”

He said his theory was a very simple one: Look for the truth and put aside all partisanship. He called for an objective process not littered with personal agendas to decide the fate of not only Trump but of the greatest democracy the world has ever seen.

“If we will take that approach to the next four weeks, I think that we will come up with a pretty healthy position and one that can be articulated and supported by facts,” Scott said. “If you can’t do that, then you’re in the wrong job.”

One of the more important challenges America faces, Scott said, is the challenge of civility and fairness.

He said he had recently appeared on a TV show where he was asked how bad things are in America in terms of race relations.

“I thought to myself, ‘How long have you been alive? Like 12 days?’” Scott said.

He said he was born in the heart of Dixie, the state of South Carolina. Scott added that he had run against Strom Thurmond’s son in the place where the Civil War started — Fort Sumter guards Charleston Harbor — and won election to the House of Representatives.

“You’re going to tell me nothing has changed in 50 years?” Scott continued. “Are you smoking crack? I mean, seriously, I don’t understand how someone could have such audacious, salacious, inconsistent with reality comments. That frustrates the dickens out of me.”

He was appointed to the Senate on Dec. 17, 2012, by Gov. Nikki Haley to fill the seat of the retiring Jim DeMint. Scott was elected to finish the remainder of DeMint’s term in 2014 and elected for a full term in 2016.

Scott indicated that he plans to run again in 2022 but probably will not run after that. He said he plans to return to private business.

Prior to being appointed to the Senate, Scott was the representative for South Carolina’s Congressional District 1, which included most of the coast of the state. He was elected to the seat in 2010 over the son of Strom Thurmond, a longtime senator from South Carolina.

Scott was re-elected in 2012.

He ran for and was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2008, serving until his election to Congress.

Prior to the South Carolina House of Representatives, Scott was chairman of the Charleston County Council in 2007-2008.

Scott was elected to the Charleston County Council in a 1995 special election and reelected in 2004.

Scott was born and raised in North Charleston, graduating from R.B. Stall — he said “Go Warriors” during his speech — and Charleston Southern University with a degree in political science.

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