共和党全国参议院委员会主席、佛罗里达州共和党参议员里克·斯科特(Rick Scott)谴责了对议长南希·佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)的丈夫保罗·佩洛西(Paul Pelosi)的袭击，称这是“卑鄙的”和“不可接受的”。
在“本周”周日的采访中，斯科特告诉主播玛莎·拉达茨，他已经探索过允许竞选资金用于安全，并呼吁更文明的公共话语。
“嗯，我们必须想办法让我们的国家重新团结起来，我们可以进行文明对话，没有暴力。我的意思是，发生在保罗·佩洛西身上的事情是卑鄙的，是不可接受的，”他说。
“当我在2021年1月获得这份工作时，我做了一件事，我去联邦选举委员会说，‘我们的参议员和众议员可以用他们的竞选资金为自己和家人支付安全费用吗?’"斯科特告诉拉达茨。"不幸的是，它已经成为一个更加危险的地方，我们必须尽一切努力降低言辞，进行文明的对话，但也要确保人们的安全。"
Senator Rick Scott speaks at a news conference, July 26, 2022, in Washington.
埃里克·李/彭博
警方称，斯科特发表上述言论之前，保罗·佩洛西在他和议长位于旧金山的家中遭到一名男子的袭击，这名男子进屋后用锤子袭击了保罗·佩洛西，并说了句“南希在哪里”。保罗·佩洛西成功接受了颅骨骨折和其他损伤的手术，预计将完全康复。
几名共和党人谴责了这起袭击事件——尽管前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)一直保持沉默——袭击者被确认为42岁的大卫·德帕普(David Depape)，他被控谋杀未遂、使用致命武器袭击、入室盗窃和虐待老人。
展望中期选举，斯科特还夸口说，共和党在下届国会中可能会占据多达52个参议院席位，他说，他正在关注亚利桑那州、乔治亚州、内华达州和新罕布什尔州的转变，也可能会在康涅狄格州、科罗拉多州和华盛顿州发生转变。斯科特还表示，宾夕法尼亚州副州长约翰费特曼和共和党提名人穆罕默德奥兹之间的参议院竞选是共和党席位中“最难”举行的，但仍表示有信心。
“民主党的议程非常不受欢迎，”斯科特说。“共和党的投票率看起来比民主党高。所以，我非常乐观地认为我们会赢。我们有很棒的候选人。”
"我认为民主党将在11月8日受到猛烈的抨击。"
当Raddatz问及共和党控制的国会是否将重点调查拜登政府时，斯科特说，优先考虑的问题将是经济问题以及文化战争，如移民和支持执法。
“你希望的是我们想出如何降低通货膨胀。这意味着我们必须量入为出。你所希望的是我们有一个安全的边境，我们可以完成一些移民改革，但是没有一个安全的边境是不行的。你希望我们开始支持执法，”他说。“因此，我希望共和党人将通过好的立法，乔·拜登将签署它。”
斯科特还主张制定更严格的投票法，以恢复他所说的公众对选举诚信的信心，尽管没有证据表明一些共和党人指控的普遍欺诈。
他说:“我努力确保人们对我们的自由公平选举感到放心。”。“我们必须通过身份法做到这一点，确保我们没有选票收集，确保我们监控投票箱。”
Rick Scott: Paul Pelosi assault is 'despicable' and 'unacceptable'
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, condemned the assault on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., husband Paul Pelosi, calling it "despicable" and "unacceptable."
In an interview on "This Week" Sunday, Scott told anchor Martha Raddatz that he had explored allowing campaign funds to be used for security and called for a more civilized public discourse.
"Well, we've got to figure out how to bring our country back together where we have a civil conversation and we have no violence. I mean, what happened to Paul Pelosi is despicable, it's unacceptable," he said.
"One thing I did when I got this job in January 2021, I went to the Federal Election Commission and said, 'could our senators and House members, could they use their campaign dollars to pay for security for themselves and their family?'" Scott told Raddatz. "Unfortunately, it's become a more dangerous place, and we've got to do everything we can to lower the rhetoric have a civil conversation, but also make sure people are safe."
Scott's remarks come after Paul Pelosi was attacked at his and the speaker's home in San Francisco by a man who entered the house saying, "where's Nancy" before striking Paul Pelosi with a hammer, police said. Paul Pelosi underwent successful surgery for a skull fracture and other injuries and is anticipated to make a full recovery.
Several Republicans condemned the assault -- though former President Donald Trump has remained silent -- and the attacker, identified as 42-year-old David Depape, has been charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and elderly abuse.
Looking toward the midterms, Scott also boasted that the GOP could hold as many as 52 Senate seats in the next Congress, saying he was eyeing flips in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire as well as possibly in Connecticut, Colorado and Washington. Scott also said Pennsylvania's Senate race between Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, D, and GOP nominee Mehmet Oz is the "hardest" of the GOP seats to hold, but still expressed confidence.
"The Democrat agenda is very unpopular," Scott said. "Turnout looks better for the Republicans than Democrats. So, I'm very optimistic that we're going to win. We have great candidates."
"I think the Democrats are going to get a rude awakening on November 8."
When pressed by Raddatz on whether a Republican-controlled Congress would focus on investigating the Biden administration, Scott said a priority would be placed on economic issues as well as culture war battles like on immigration and support for law enforcement.
"What would you hope is that we figure out how to get inflation down. That means we have to live within our means. What you hope is that we get a secure border, we can get some immigration reform done, but you can't do without a secure border. You hope that we start supporting law enforcement," he said. "So, I'm hopeful that Republicans will pass good legislation and Joe Biden will sign it."
Scott also advocated for some tighter voting laws to restore what he said was dropping public confidence in elections' integrity despite no evidence of the widespread fraud alleged by some Republicans.
"I've tried make sure we make sure people feel comfortable that we have free and fair elections," he said. "We've got to do that by passing ID laws, making sure we don't have ballot harvesting, make sure we have monitored drop boxes."
