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On Tuesday, Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida blocked Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen’s effort to pass a resolution to condemn Donald Trump for seeking $230 million from the Justice Department as restitution for investigations into his conduct.
Rosen’s resolution came after The New York Times reported that Trump submitted two complaints to the Justice Department, one in 2023 and the other in 2024, seeking damages related to the special counsel’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the FBI’s 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago estate.
“This resolution should have been a layup, frankly,” said Symone Sanders Townsend, co-host of “The Weeknight,” after the senator’s effort failed. “It should be something we can all condemn, especially in the midst of a government shutdown. The president should not be getting $230 million from the taxpayers when many of the taxpayers themselves don’t know where their next paycheck is going to come from.”
Sanders Townsend questioned why Republican senators have repeatedly failed to take a stand against Trump, even in situations she believes are obvious instances of corruption.
“What is the fear about?” Sanders Townsend asked. “Maybe we don’t want to call it fear. Maybe it’s hesitancy. ... What do they know that we don’t know? What is keeping them from literally doing what a governing party in this country should do, and stand up to somebody that is not going to be here in two years?”
Michael Steele made it clear he was not surprised by the move and said he believed Trump’s status as a lame-duck president was not enough for Republicans to turn their back on him. The MSNBC host theorized that Scott may have been “ordered” by the party’s leadership to oppose the effort. “That’s why there was no rationale for the objection,” he said.
“This was a resolution just condemning the act,” Steele explained. “It didn’t call for a full-throated investigation.”
Alicia Menendez suggested another possible reason behind the objection. According to Menendez, if Republicans “started to pull the thread on saying, in essence, these investigations were not improper,” it would risk the “entire foundation” the party built during Trump's campaign, which cast the president as a victim of political prosecution.
“That’s it at the end of the day,” Steele added, “they don’t want to undermine Trump.”
You can watch the full discussion between Sanders Townsend, Steele and Menendez in the clip at the top of the page.