Trump: Tim Scott 'wasn’t a good presidential candidate' but is 'a great surrogate'
During the 2024 GOP presidential primary, Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) was, at times, critical of frontrunner Donald Trump. But it was mild criticism compared to the scathing anti-Trump attacks coming from fellow primary candidate Chris Christie, former two-term governor of New Jersey.
Now, Scott is reportedly on Trump's short list for a possible running mate, along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
According to Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio, Trump was especially favorable to Scott during a recent conversation with Senate Republicans.
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In a June 13 thread on X, formerly Twitter, Andrew Desiderio reports, "Trump heaped praise on Tim Scott during Senate R mtg — more than any of the other VP shortlisters. He mentioned Rubio/Vance by name but talked the longest about Scott. Trump joked that Scott 'wasn't a good presidential candidate' but has been a 'great surrogate for him.'"
Desiderio also noted that during the meeting, Trump wasn't attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky). Despite all the bad blood there has been between Trump and McConnell during the Biden era, McConnell is now endorsing Trump.
Desiderio tweets, "MORE, per two attendees — Trump said abortion was the reason R's lost Senate in 2022, 'not because of Mitch, not because of me.' Trump went out of his way to be nice to McConnell, per R senators."
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The Punchbowl reporter also observes, "Not only did Trump go out of his way to praise McConnell (albeit in a subdued way), he did *not* take open shots at any of his GOP critics, per multiple attendees. One GOP senator said to me sarcastically: 'I was like, who's this guy and what did he do with Donald Trump?'"