NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Rick Scott

Interview

CHUCK TODD:

Joining me now is Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who is joining us from Naples, Florida, this morning. Senator Scott, welcome back to Meet the Press.

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Good morning, Chuck. How are you doing?

CHUCK TODD:

I'm good. I want to start with the Senate Intelligence Committee report that was just released the day after Mueller's testimony. And its findings said this. "The Russian government directed extensive activity, beginning in at least 2014 and carrying into at least 2017, in an attempt to intrude, at some point, all 50 states, where the Russians either tested vulnerabilities or extracted information." Just your initial reaction to this.

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Well, it's exactly what you expect. I was just in Europe, talking to members of parliament in different countries there. And they said the Russians are trying to do the same thing there. I mean, we have to understand that Russia, Iran, China, they're going to try to impact our elections. We've got to be, we’ve got to be very diligent. When I was governor, I allocated dollars for cybersecurity, dollars to our separately elected supervisor elections at the county level. Every state's got to do this. Last year, the Senate allocated $380 million. We passed the provisions in the NDAA. We’ve got -- I mean, look, the Russians are here. They're going to try to get into our system.

CHUCK TODD:

It seems as if the president doesn't believe that, though. And the president -- if you don’t have the President willing -- because, for instance, one of the recommendations in the report was there has to be deterrents on Russia not to do this. And if they're still doing it, then they're obviously not being deterred. The president, himself, pooh-poohs this. So of course, there's no deterrent. How else are we going to get deterrence on the Russians, if the president won't stand up to them?

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Well, let's look at the facts. President Obama didn't do what he should have done. And that's why the Russians had -- were able -- they got into two counties in Florida. They didn't get anything done, but they got into two counties. And let's look at 2018. The Trump administration put a lot of effort into making sure that nothing happened in 2018. And to date, we've not been told that anything has happened. They weren't able to get into that. So you know, the Trump administration has put a lot of effort into this. I've gotten briefings and I know --

CHUCK TODD:

But you're avoiding, you’re avoiding the part, I mean, come on, the president mocked, in front of a world audience, when a reporter asked, "Did you ask Vladimir Putin -- did you tell him not to interfere in these elections?"

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Well, look, I think all of us would like everybody to be a lot more direct. It's hard to do that, I'm sure, sometimes, in person. But let's look at the Trump administration, what they've done. Let's look at -- not their words, but their actions. Their actions are, they've been very aggressive in trying to make sure that there's no Russian interference or any other country. But we all have to understand, they're going to do, and not just Russia, China, Iran, and other countries, are going to try to impact our elections. And we have to be diligent.

CHUCK TODD:

You brought up two counties in there. You know, this report was odd in this respect. Only one state allowed itself to be named in what happened to their voter rolls. It was the state of Illinois. The state of Florida is anonymous in here. There's a lot of speculation, based on similar reporting, that it's likely state two that's referred to in this report, is Florida. Did you learn new information from this report that you did not know as governor at the time?

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Well, that report, I've not seen. I do know --

CHUCK TODD:

Why not? You haven't read this report yet? It got released on Thursday. I'm sorry.

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Okay, I've not read that report yet. I have gotten briefings. We know that they tried to get into two counties in Florida. We know that they didn’t -- it didn't have any impact on the election. I, as governor, put a lot of effort into making sure they couldn't get into our system. That's why we had a counterterrorism experts -- cybersecurity experts. And we also allocated dollars to our county supervisor elections.

CHUCK TODD:

You were talking about you had gotten briefings. Did you get direct contact from DHS back in 2016? Or was it through other channels that DHS contacted the state of Florida?

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

So back in -- we didn't have it directly to me. But back in 2018, during my election, I reached out to Homeland Security, FBI, DOJ, to make sure that there was nothing that they had. And they told me, at the time, that they had no information, that there was no infiltration of our system, in Florida, at the time.

CHUCK TODD:

When did you find out about the 2016 infiltration, though? Did you ever find out about it in 2016?

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

No. No, Chuck. I didn't get any of that. And actually, it really happened this year. And so I've gotten, I’ve gotten briefings. And the bottom line is, they got into two counties. But they had no impact. They didn't change any voter registration, voter rolls. They didn't change any votes. We put a lot of effort, when I was governor, to make sure that couldn't happen.

CHUCK TODD:

You talk about changing votes. If it's an influence campaign or, worse, they've taken voter information, it's not influencing the votes. It's the concern that voters won't see their names on the voter rolls, that they'll be turned away from there. They already got a bunch of information from the state of Illinois. How do we prevent this in 2020? James Lankford said it's already too late to do anything about this in 2020.

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Well, no. I think, I think the Secretary of State's offices, everybody needs to work together to make sure this doesn't happen. We did it when I was governor of Florida. We made sure we worked with DHS and FBI and DOJ to make sure this didn't happen. But all of us have to understand, the Russians are here and other countries. They're going to try to influence our elections. They're doing the exact same thing in Europe.

CHUCK TODD:

I want to move to the president's tweet storm. You spend a lot of time, energy, and resources trying to win over non-white voters in the state of Florida, in your elections for governor and the Senate. You've learned Spanish. You speak Spanish. You spend a lot of time reaching out. The president spends a lot of time, on his Twitter feed, trying to racially divide the country. Does that undermine efforts of the Republican Party in the state of Florida?

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Well, first off, I think it's important that you talk to everybody. And you, you know, whether you're running for election or when you're elected, you represent everybody. On Friday, I met with a group of Chinese Americans. And I had a rally with Venezuelans about what's happened down there. Look, I think we've got to do everything we can to bring this country back together --

CHUCK TODD:

Why doesn't the president think that? Why do you think the president -- doing this, it's just stoking racial resentment, left and right. He's done it multiple times this month alone. He obviously thinks this is good politics inside the Republican Party. Do you think it's good politics inside the Republican Party?

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Well, Chuck, let's look at what he said, all right, and why he did it. Congressman Cummings sat there and attacked our Border Patrol agents, all right? This is , this reminds me of what happened to soldiers coming back from Vietnam.

CHUCK TODD:

But that justifies a racial resentment tweet in response? Is that presidential leadership?

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Well, look, I, I, look, I didn't do the tweets, Chuck. I can't talk about why he did what he did. But I'm very disappointed in the people, like Congressman Cummings, who is attacking Border Patrol agents that are trying to do their job, when the Democrats won't give them the resources to do it. They won't secure the border. They won't fix the asylum laws. And then Democrats want to sit there and say, "Oh, those Border Patrol agents don't care." Let me tell you, I've been to the border. I've talked to Border Patrol agents. I know they care about these individuals. But we have got to give them the resources and the ability to do their job.

CHUCK TODD:

It's not lost on me that you were harsher on Elijah Cummings than you were on the president and what he's done. You seem hesitant to do this, to criticize the president, individually, on these things. I understand the politics of it. But do we ever heal, if each side just goes into their corner?

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Chuck, here's that -- when I agree with the president, I'll agree with him. When I disagree, I'll disagree with him. You can ask him why he did the tweet. I can tell you, I’ve had -- I've disagreed with the president with some things with regard to Puerto Rico. I mean, is he happy about that? Of course not, okay? But just like on Puerto Rico, I'm going to do what I believe is in the best interest of my state. I'm disappointed, when people are out there are attacking Border Patrol agents. Would I like everybody to come together and work together? That's what I'm trying to do in my state. Right now, I mean, the country is divided, because of a lot of things.

CHUCK TODD:

I will leave it there. Governor. Excuse me, Senator Rick Scott, Republican from Florida. Most senators who used to be governors, actually, I think, prefer the governor title, anyway. But anyway, Senator Scott, thanks for coming on and sharing your views. I appreciate it.

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Bye Chuck.

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