CNN "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Rick Scott
Interview
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TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION.
A man who also used to speak to you every Sunday morning, the late, great Tim Russert, once said, Florida, Florida, Florida.
[09:20:02]
And we again look South to the largest swing state in the country and its 29 electoral votes. And with the race tightening there in the closing hours, one powerful Trump ally is trying to help him close there again.
He's a Republican senator from Florida and the state's former two-term governor, Rick Scott.
Senator Scott, good to see you. Thanks for joining us.
We're now just 48 hours from Election Day. It's been almost 100 years since a Republican won the White House without your state. And it's hard to imagine a path to 270 for President Trump without it.
In 2000, it took 36 days to learn the winner. Do you think we're going to know who won Florida on election night?
SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): I sure hope so.
Look, I -- my goal is to get everybody out to vote that has a right to vote. We don't want any fraud. I'm clearly supporting President Trump. I put up an ad to talk about the radical plan the Democrats have.
But it's really the -- well, I think both sides are doing the same thing. You got to get your vote out now. That's -- I have had three statewide races, and there -- this is a 50/50 state. And you got to get your voters out to vote.
And the Democrats don't seem to have any grassroots in Florida. It doesn't make sense to me.
TAPPER: One of the ways that you won your Senate race in 2018 was through direct appeals to the diverse Latino community in your state, especially Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade.
But there are other groups, including more Democrat-leaning Puerto Ricans in the I-4 Corridor.
Where do you see Biden and Trump in competition for these crucial voters in Florida?
SCOTT: Well, I think -- I think what's -- what's helped Trump this time is, he's held the Castro regime accountable. And Obama/Biden didn't.
He's been aggressive on trying to get Maduro to leave power in Venezuela. He's been opposed to Ortega in Nicaragua. And the O'Biden, Obama -- the Biden and Obama administration weren't. So, I think that's going to help him.
I think that a lot of people believe that it took time, but the work on Puerto Rico has paid off. And I think Hispanics are like everyone else in my state. They care about jobs. And I think most people realize that President Trump's going to be better for jobs than Joe Biden will be.
And we have got a lot of people that don't want a big tax increase. There's a lot of people, as you know, Jake, they come down here because they don't like high taxes. And Biden's tax increase, the biggest, I think, in the history of the country, is not going to go over well here.
So, I think those are the reasons why President Trump is doing well with Hispanics, but is also doing well with everybody.
TAPPER: According to "The New York Times" -- quote -- "Trump advisers said their best hope was if the president wins Ohio, and Florida is too close to call early in the night, depriving Mr. Biden the swift victory and giving Mr. Trump the room to undermine the validity of uncounted mail-in ballots in the days after" -- unquote.
Obviously, only valid ballots should count, but is that really the strategy, attack legitimate ballots that have not been counted? I mean, a lot of people in Florida voted vote-by-mail or early.
SCOTT: Right. We have a lot.
TAPPER: I assume you want all of the ballots to count, right?
SCOTT: Yes, I mean, that -- first off, I think we all want -- we want to know the results that night.
I did a -- I put a bill out that would have national standards for mail-in ballots. It works in Florida. You can vote here by mail-in. You got to get your mail -- you got to get your vote in, right? You can't wait until after Election Day. You can do early and you can do Election Day.
So -- but if you're going to do by mail, you got to get your vote in early. And you can check in Florida. You can check to say -- make sure it got in, make sure they accepted your signature, that -- that -- so, all those things.
So, I want people to vote. I hope we find out election night. I hope it's -- it's not a fight.
Jake, you remember, after my election in 2018, the Democrat attorney came down and said, I don't care what the -- what happened here. We're going to win this election.
That shouldn't be happening. This should not be dealt with through the court system. It should be because people will legitimately -- you vote. Go get your vote in. If you believe in -- whatever -- whoever you believe in, go vote, and make sure your ballot is in on time.
TAPPER: And I'm sure you would agree that all valid ballots that have gotten there on time, according to the state law, should be counted.
Let's turn to coronavirus. You said this week that...
SCOTT: Oh, absolutely.
TAPPER: You said this week that -- quote -- "We haven't beaten it," which is accurate.
SCOTT: No, we haven't.
TAPPER: President Trump has been saying that we're -- quote -- "rounding" -- right -- that we're -- quote -- "rounding the corner."
That's not true. We just hit more than 99,000 new cases in one day.
Do you agree that, no matter who wins on Tuesday, there needs to be a more aggressive federal response to contain the pandemic?
SCOTT: You know, well, first off, we haven't beat it. I think let's all agree on that.
I think we have to -- all of us, all of us need to wear masks. We need social distance. I think -- I think that the FDA -- I think Steve Hahn at the FDA has done a great job working on therapeutics. I think we have made a lot of progress there.
Hopefully, we're making a lot of progress on the vaccine. But we still have a lot of work to do, and especially work to do on testing. We have got to get more testing out there for the private sector. We have got to get -- and we got to get more information.
[09:25:00]
And one thing that I have never noticed is why we don't have more information out. Now, most of the information is accumulated at the state level on health care. So, I just think -- I just think we got to get more information out there, so people can make good, informed decisions.
That's what I tried to do as governor when I had hurricanes or when I had the Zika health care crisis. Give people information, they will make good decisions.
TAPPER: Does it -- does it bother you when the president holds these rallies, and people are not wearing masks, and people are not social distancing, not as a political matter, but as a public health matter?
These are your own constituents, your own citizens who are not abiding by health protocols.
SCOTT: Jake, everybody's got to take this seriously. You should wear your mask, you should social distance.
But it's your responsibility to make these decisions for yourself. And there's a way to do these things safely. And that's what my expectation is, every American does that.
But it's part of all of us. Everybody has got to take this -- I mean, take it seriously. I mean, it's about your -- it's not just about your parents. It could be about your spouse. You know, we -- we have got to -- we haven't beaten this yet.
Now, I mean, look, the positive is, we do have -- we're way better on therapeutics now. We are -- we have made progress. We have made progress on testing. But we're still not where we need to be yet. And I -- and I want to be very -- I want people to really think about, how do we get more businesses these rapid tests, so we can get these businesses open faster?
TAPPER: Last question, sir.
The end of the 2020 election will also mean the beginning of the 2024 campaign season. Are you thinking about running for president in 2024?
SCOTT: No. And, by the way, we -- think about it. We have got -- I'm going to work my tail off to get President Trump elected. And that's what everybody ought to be focused on. And then everybody ought to be focused on doing the jobs that they have.
And my job is a U.S. senator for the -- represent the state of Florida the best I can.
TAPPER: So, you're ruling it out, or you're just not thinking about it right now?
SCOTT: I'm not focused on it.
Jake, I'm going to -- I'm going to continue to focus on, how do I -- we have got to build this economy. We have got to figure out how we can live within our means. We have got to build the better relationships with Latin America. We have got to hold people like Xi in China accountable.
We have got to do -- we have got a lot of work to do, and I have got a -- I like my job as a U.S. senator. And that's what I'm going to focus on.
TAPPER: All right, Senator Scott, good to see you again. Stay healthy.
SCOTT: Nice seeing you, Jake. All right, bye-bye.
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