Tim Scott struggles to explain Trump's election fraud lies

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U.S. Sen. Tim Scott found himself in a familiar situation Sunday: dodging questions about Donald Trump's behavior and statements while trying to provide Democrats with the political counterpoint that the Republican front-runner rejects.

Scott was at CNN State of the Unionwhere he was interviewed by Dana Bash as the final weekend of the 2024 presidential campaign unfolded across America. Trump and Harris pull off a last-minute swing state blitz as polls show the race is very close.

The South Carolina lawmaker deflected questions about recent statements from Trump and RFK Jr. and gave a response about “misinformation” about voter fraud that earned Bash a snarky remark. He declined to directly address Bash's question — whether it was true that the Trump campaign spread misinformation about alleged voter fraud in Pennsylvania — and instead accused the “liberal media” of being the ones spreading misinformation.

Scott declined to provide any examples to support this claim; Notably, the only media outlets credibly accused of making false statements about the 2020 election cycle were the two conservative networks Newsmax and Fox News.

Both settled the lawsuits filed against them by settling software companies over these false claims, with Fox in particular paying nearly $800 million. Rupert Murdoch said his company's anchors said things on television about the 2020 election that they knew were untrue, and that claim was supported by text messages and other communications obtained as part of the legal process in this lawsuit be.

Scott would continue to lie and say that CNN did not report on the assassination attempts against Donald Trump; one in Butler, Pennsylvania, and one in Florida. An angry Bash pointed out that this was not true and that the network had reported both incidents “widespread.”

The South Carolina senator was an unsuccessful contender to become Donald Trump's vice president earlier this year after publicly declaring on stage that he “loves” the former president, who then forced him to marry Nikki Haley – Trump's rival in Republican office – speaking badly is primary.

Haley was the governor who appointed Scott to the U.S. Senate even though he refused to support her in the Republican primary against Trump.

In 2020, the former president's lies about voter fraud and widespread voter fraud led him to months of failed attempts to overturn his defeat in courts across the country.

After exhausting those options, Trump's supporters staged a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to prevent the election from being certified. The ex-president and his team had encouraged crowds to flock to D.C. that day despite warnings that the likelihood of violence was high.

Meanwhile, the ex-president storms into Election Day facing a slew of new polls that suggest the race may tip in favor of Kamala Harris in the final days.

A new Iowa poll by J. Ann Selzer, long considered the gold standard of Iowa polls, was released Saturday and showed the ex-president's support there collapsing; Other polls suggest the race is now tied or very close in North Carolina.

Harris appeared on Saturday evening Saturday Night Live and will continue its tour of all key contested states before Tuesday.