Sen. Tim Scott says Democrats 'walked away' from police reform talks

A few days after Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said that Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) rejected his final offer on a bipartisan police reform bill, Scott relayed his side of the story, painting the situation a little differently.

From Scott's perspective it was the Democrats who "walked away" from the talks. "Let's just be clear that we have stayed at the table," Scott told CBS News' Margaret Brennan on Sunday's edition of Face the Nation, referring to Republicans.

He said that he and his team made it clear that the GOP was "not going to participate in reducing funding for police," which he said would have been the case with many of Booker's provisions. "That's a lose-lose proposition," Scott said, adding that his approach was a "win-win" one. "We want the best wearing the badge, and we want the vulnerable protected."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

Scott also clarified that while he agreed with Democrats on the need for better reporting on police interactions that resulted in serious bodily injury or death, he couldn't go along with mandating the reporting of every traffic stop to the federal government.