Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott traveled to New York City on Thursday, where he became the first member of Congress to attend Former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial.
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom during a break from the proceedings, Scott said that the treatment that the former president was enduring was “despicable.”
Scott is running for reelection to a second term in the U.S. Senate. While the former president is under a gag order that bars him from verbally attacking jurors, Scott is under no such constraints, and lashed out at the prosecution.
“It’s a crime in this country to go after the court system to go after your political opponents,” Scott said on video that was recorded by POLITICO.
“What’s happening in this courtroom is clearly criminal. It’s been led by political thugs — the lead prosecutor was the number three person at the Biden Justice Department. The Judge’s daughter is a political operative and raises money for Democrats. You’ve got the lead prosecutor’s wife is a significant donor to Democrats, and I think to Biden. So this is just a bunch of Democrats saying that we want to make sure that Donald Trump can’t talk.”
The prosecutor that Scott was referring to is Matthew Colangelo, who was hired by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in 2022 after serving as a senior official at the U.S. Justice Department. It was revealed this week that FEC records show Colangelo’s wife did contribute $2,800 to Biden’s 2020 campaign.
The Judge leading the case is Juan Merchan. Trump’s lawyers attempted before the trial to have him step down from the case, alleging bias because his daughter is a Democratic political consultant, the Associated Press has reported.
Scott’s visit to the Trump trial on Thursday meant that he missed a vote in the Senate on a procedural motion on a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration. That missed vote was duly noted by Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Democrat running to be the party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate to take on Scott in November.
“As the man who oversaw one of the largest Medicare frauds in history and pleaded the 5th, 75 times, Rick Scott finds himself once again in a courtroom today… this time following Donald Trump like a fan waiting for a selfie,” she said in a statement sent to the Phoenix. “Maybe someone should remind Scott that rather than sitting in New York trying to suck up to a defendant found liable for sexual abuse, he should be at work focusing on lowering costs, securing our border, and protecting democracy.”
Mucarsel-Powell’s comment was a reference to how Scott invoked the 5th Amendment 75 times in a deposition he gave in 2000 as part of a civil case involving his time leading Columbia/HCA, a healthcare company. Scott resigned from the company in 1997 following government allegations of Medicare fraud. The company ultimately was fined $1.7 billion, according to PolitiFact.
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This article originally appeared here and was republished with permission.
