Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who is leading Republican efforts on police reform, has received racist and vile voicemails.
Politico, citing sources, reported that Scott played the voicemails he and his staff received to Republican colleagues during a private lunch on Tuesday.
One of the voicemails referred to Scott as “Uncle Tim” and used another vile description of him. Another voicemail was left for his assistant and was described “profane.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, later tweeted: “Shocked 2learn at lunch abt hateful msgs to Sen Tim Scott our ldr of police reform from ppl who must think somehow a black republican can’t lead this effort bc only democrats r qualified to talk abt race/police reform??? we ALL hv a responsibility to b kind even when we disagree!”
The decision by Scott, the only African American Republican senator, to play the voicemails came as the Senate is set to take a procedural vote on his policing bill.
Scott’s bill would create incentives for local police departments to reform their policies to stop misconduct. But Democrats want to establish stronger federal standards against the use of force. They also want to ban chokeholds.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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