Fox News "Fox News Sunday" - Transcript: Interview with Rick Scott

Interview

Date: Sept. 1, 2019

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WALLACE: Joining me now, Florida Senator, and former governor, Rick Scott, who's been at Camp David with the president this weekend monitoring the situation in his home state.

Senator, as you assess all the data, the strength, the very slow speed of this storm and the constantly changing track, what worries you most about Dorian?

SEN. RICK SCOTT, R-FLA.: Well, what worries me is that everybody's going to look at that little track right in the middle instead of this sort of cone of uncertainty. I mean this thing -- it can still move right into Florida. The National Hurricane Center told me this morning that it has wobbled a little bit further to the west, so it's been -- come closer. So everybody's got to follow this.

The president, I know, is focused on it. FEMA has done a good job. You can download their app to get information. But I'm -- that's my biggest concern is people are going to think, oh, I'm -- they're -- we're off the hook. We are not off the hook.

WALLACE: When it makes that right turn, it still could --

SCOTT: Yes. Plus -- plus we've got -- we're going to get storm surge. We're going to get a lot of rain. The closer it gets to Florida or into Florida, we can get more rain. That can cause flooding. So take it seriously. Over prepare, don't under prepare.

WALLACE: What's the challenge of evacuation orders when you don't know where this storm is going and where it's going to hit?

SCOTT: This is like Matthew a couple of years ago. You -- we had to start evacuating, even though it stayed off the coast. We got to -- we had to over prepare because if it turns, it's too late, you can't get out. And so that's why I tell everybody to, you know, have your water, seven days, your food, your medicines. But also, if you think there's any chance you're going to have to evacuate, do it now and get ahead of the game.

WALLACE: As governor of Florida, you -- you're a veteran at this, you presided over a number of hurricanes, including just last year, Hurricane Michael, which hit as a category five in the panhandle, catastrophic -- what's your advice to your successor, Governor DeSantis, who -- this is his first hurricane as governor?

SCOTT: I've been talking to him. He's got a great team. We have great -- at the state and at the local level emergency management teams. You know, as governor, you need to listen. You need to stay ahead of it. As issues come up, every storm's a little bit different, the issues are different. Just react.

So I'm -- I'm continuing to talk to him and talking to his emergency management team. FEMA, I know, is down there full time. Gracia Szczech, who runs FEMA for the Southeast, is down there full time. So he's got a good team around him. I'm sure, you know, they're all focused.

WALLACE: One of the reasons, it seems, that -- that Dorian keeps growing is because it's traveling over so much warm water as it heads across the Caribbean, getting closer now to the Florida mainland.

You have expressed mixed feelings over the years about climate change and about the role that human activity plays, but it -- it sure seems like these hurricanes are getting bigger, stronger, more intense.

Do you see a connection?

SCOTT: Well, first off, we know the climate's changing, and then we know our storms seem to be getting bigger. I mean just in the -- in -- with the last four years as governor, I had four of them. Now we have them -- my first year out as governor. So we don't know what the cause is, but we've got to react to it. So, as governor, I mean, we put money into dealing with things like sea -- you know, sea level rise, more mitigation and -- and things like that. So we've got to continue to figure this out.

WALLACE: As a senator, is it a relief not to be in charge, not to be at ground zero, in charge of overseeing how the state responds to this hurricane, or is there a part of you, after eight years of doing it, that would kind of like to be in the command center running things right now?

SCOTT: Well, it doesn't change, Chris. Your heart goes out to everybody and you're worried about them. I mean I always tell everybody, you can rebuild your house but you can't rebuild your family.

I love my family and -- and -- and so, you know, and I'm -- I'm concerned about people and I'm concerned, are they taking this seriously enough. And that's not -- it doesn't change whether you're the governor or the -- or the senator. So in my job -- my role now is to make sure the federal government does their response. That's why I went to FEMA yesterday. I'll be going there with the president today. I went to Red Cross yesterday and their -- they -- they both know that they're in good -- in good shape to -- to do whatever comes around (ph).

WALLACE: And, briefly, you were at Camp David yesterday. How involved is the president? How often is he getting updates?

SCOTT: I was -- I was -- we got updates while I was there. We got updates -- I know we played golf yesterday and got updates while I was playing golf. Then we had a longer update at 4:00 and we talked about it after that. So he was constantly getting updates. FEMA's -- I mean he's -- he's been -- he's been speaking to Pete Gaynor, the administrator of FEMA. So - - I mean he's a -- he's a -- I -- and I've been talking to him every day about it. So he's very engaged.

WALLACE: Senator Scott, thank you. Thanks for coming in today. And our thoughts, of course, go out to all of the people, Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, all of the people in the storm zone. Thank you so much, sir.

SCOTT: Thanks, Chris.

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