Face the Nation’s Margaret Brennan Grills Sen. Tim Scott on Failed Police Reform Talks: ‘You’re Saying Senator Booker Can’t Read?’

Face the Nation‘s Margaret Brennan pressed Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) on why bipartisan police reform talks crumbled before a deal could be reached on Sunday.

Scott pointed the finger at Democrats, telling Brennan that “it’s the big blue cities where they have failed to pass policies that protect their most vulnerable communities.”

Brennan noted that the issue of police reform was present in both the Trump and Biden administrations. “With Republicans in control, it went nowhere. Democrats in control, it’s going nowhere.”

Scott responded: “But both times — the folks that left the table were the Democrats. Let’s just be clear that we have stayed at the table. We said simply this: ‘I’m not going to participate in reducing funding for the police after we saw major city after major city defund the police.'”

Brennan pointed out that the increases in funding for other aspects of the police, such as mental health services, would create a net increase in funding. However, Scott took issue with the fact that funding could be restricted if police departments were not in compliance.

“When you start saying in order to receive those dollars, you must do A, B, and C, and if you don’t do A, B, and C, you literally lose eligibility for the two major pots of money, the Byrne grants and the COP grants,” Scott argued. “When you tell local law enforcement agencies that you are ineligible for money, that’s defunding the police, there’s no way to spin that.”

Brennan later tried to clarify: “You would want to increase to police departments that aren’t doing what they are supposed to be doing?”

“Let’s look at what we’re asking for,” Scott responded. “What the Democrats asked for was a simple thing. They asked for more reporting on serious bodily injury to death. I said, that’s a great idea. When they wanted to nationalize local policing, I said, that’s a bad idea.”

“When they say that every single traffic stop in this country must be reported to the federal government, whether it’s a traffic ticket or stopping someone on the streets of New York or Charleston every single time that you have any interaction — for the federal government to be in charge of all that information, I say, let’s do it, but let’s do it voluntarily,” he said.

The pair then began talking over one another, as Brennan continued to press Scott on why the negotiations failed.

“People at home watching this say this was a moment that was missed,” Brennan said. “And because of that, this just looks like it’s playing politics again.”

“I do think they’re playing politics, you’re right,” Scott said.

“But what about Republicans here? Because I know you’re saying you’re at the table —”

“We’re at the table —” Scott said.

“You are at the table, but when you’re coming back to defunding police —” Brennan said.

“Here’s a fact —” Scott said, interrupting her.

“Which is a very effective political line —” Brennan said, trying to continue.

“No, it’s actually part of their legislation,” Scott said. “Now, Margaret, if we’re going to be fair to the American people to get the whole story —”

“But let me just finish my question,” she interjected.

“You have to allow me to have a conversation about the issue that I’ve been working on for the last two years,” Scott hit back.

“Well let me ask you the question,” she said again.

“I’m going to give you the answer to defunding the police,” Scott said before Brennan had asked her question.

“[The question] is… isn’t this just Republican not wanting to look like they are being soft on crime ahead of the 2020 races?” Brennan asked. “Was that part of your calculation at all?”

“Of course not, that’s the answer to the question. No,” Scott answered, getting the interview back on track.

“I’m the person who has lived in the communities that we’re talking about,” Scott added. “I’m the person who has experienced the challenges that we are trying to solve. I’m the person who understands and appreciates this issue intimately. I’m not having an academic conversation about something I know very little about.”

“So —” Brennan started.

“Let me finish,” he replied. “I understand this issue better than most people, and I will tell you this: If you want to keep our community safe, you have to properly fund the police.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who was instrumental in the bipartisan talks, pushed back Saturday against Scott’s claims that the bill would have defunded police departments.

“This is a bill that would have had millions of dollars for police departments … millions of dollars more, additional dollars, because we want to help officers with mental health issues,” Booker said on CNN’s State of the Union. “We want to collect more data so we should give more resources.” Booker has also strongly condemned defunding police in the past.

Brennan referenced similar comments from Booker during the interview, but Scott doubled down on his claim.

“But Senator Booker has said on MSNBC —” she began.

“All you have to do is actually read the areas of the bill that actually reduce the funding…that’s available,” Scott interrupted.

“So obviously, that’s a big point of disagreement between the two of you and the interpretation,” Brennan said.

“Only if you can’t read,” the Scott hit back.

“You’re saying Senator Booker can’t read?” she asked bemusedly.

“I’m only saying that if you read the legislation, it’s pretty simple,” Scott said. “This is not something that I’m making up and we can debate our facts. We can actually say, in several different areas of the bill, it reduces funding.”

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