Rick Scott Misses Senate Vote To Join Donald Trump At His Hush Money Trial

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) missed a Senate vote on Thursday to show support for former President Donald Trump at his criminal trial related to hush money he allegedly paid to hide an affair.

“I’m proud of him for standing up for all of us,” Scott said in a TV interview outside the courthouse. “If they can go after the former president, they can go after you.”

Senators frequently miss votes for a variety of reasons, but this might be the first instance of one being absent to attend somebody else’s criminal trial. Republicans slammed Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) for skipping votes during his own criminal trial in 2017.

Scott’s attendance would not have made a difference on Thursday’s vote, which was on a procedural motion related to a bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration. The measure passed by a wide bipartisan margin. Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) also missed the vote.

The Florida Republican’s decision to join Trump at trial is just the latest example of the Republican Party’s total devotion to the former president. On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called the four different state and federal cases against Trump a “borderline criminal conspiracy” orchestrated by Democrats.

Trump faces 34 felony counts in New York for falsifying business records in order to conceal payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who said she and Trump had a sexual encounter in 2006. During the trial, Manhattan prosecutors have sought to prove Trump orchestrated the payments from 2015 to 2017 to bury the stories he feared would damage his presidential campaign.

Scott said Trump had not asked him to come and that he came of his own volition because Trump’s prosecution reminded Scott