Some left-leaning media personalities attacked Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., over his engagement and connected the announcement to him "working hard" to be Donald Trump's vice president.
Scott announced his engagement on Sunday to Mindy Noce in South Carolina. Media personalities such as "The View" co-hosts Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin took aim at the engagement and suggested it was part of him working towards being Trump's vice president.
Navarro posted to Instagram and said Scott was "working hard for that VP spot," and suggested his engagement was part of his work.
"Pretty amazing to see Tim Scott WHO WAS APPOINTED TO THE US SENATE -the BIGGEST gift a Governor can bestow- by then-Governor Nikki Haley, standing behind Trump grinning like a Cheshire cat as Trump trashes her. Damn, he working hard for that VP spot. Man even got engaged!" Navarro wrote on social media.
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"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin also took a shot at Scott during the show on Wednesday, suggesting his engagement was a sign he wanted to be VP.
Hostin said he looked uncomfortable behind Trump, and said, "you know he's running for vice president."
"He endorses Trump on a Friday and then gets engaged on a Saturday, and announces his engagement on a Sunday, because it's like, ‘pick me I’m getting married this year,' and no other vice president has been unmarried and has been successful," Hostin said. "It just screams ‘I want to be your vice president! I love you!'"
Boston Globe columnist Renée Graham wrote in a column published on Tuesday titled, "Hoping to be Trump's VP Pick, Tim Scott puts a ring on it," that the senator's "sudden engagement signals that he doesn’t want innuendo about his life to keep getting in the way of his ambitions."
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Graham seemed to express skepticism that the engagement was "the real thing, not an act of political prestidigitation conceived to allay the queasiness of Republicans hung up on Scott’s sexual identity."
"He even released a photo of himself, down on one knee, proposing to Noce on a South Carolina beach in a shot that could have been plucked from a season finale of "The Bachelor," the columnist continued. "But with a woman by his side as a banner of Scott’s heterosexuality, perhaps those whispers won’t be as prominent as he vies to be Trump’s running mate."
"CBS Mornings" host Gayle King pressed Scott on whether he was hoping for the VP position on Wednesday, and asked about people who thought the timing was "suspicious."
"I would say, anyone who says it's suspicious timing, it's a lie from the pit of hell, you know how that goes in church," Scott said. "You meet the person where you spend the most time, I was fortunate enough to meet her at church."
He said they both enjoy doing the same things and have a lot in common.
Scott said he wanted to make sure the GOP wins in 2024, and said he was not focused on positions.
"I am going to always put my mission over, I'm always going to put the mission over position, I really don't think about that," Scott said.
Trump called Scott up to the podium in New Hampshire on Monday and said, "Today, it was a big story, the biggest story out there: He’s engaged to be married. We never thought this was going to happen. What’s going on?"
The South Carolina senator told Fox News Digital that he knew his fiancé was the one about two weeks into his relationship.
"To be honest with you, it was probably two weeks in, we were in the kitchen area, and I said to myself, everyone says you’ll know, and I thought that was the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. I’m 58 years old. So for 40 years I heard, ‘Oh you’ll just know,’ didn’t believe that at all," Scott told Fox News Digital. "Well, I knew."
Scott said Noce had no idea about the surprise engagement, but told her parents two weeks before Christmas.
Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
