U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., blasted the hundreds of protesters outside President Trump's Minneapolis rally on Thursday night, accusing the raucous crowd of trying to intimidate everyday citizens.
"It's the most ridiculous thing I saw on TV today," Scott told guest host Jason Chaffetz on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle."
"I've spent the day today running around South Carolina thanking law enforcement officers -- from Charleston to Aiken to Hilton Head -- thanking them for their service to this country.
TRUMP BELITTLES BIDENS WITH GRAPHIC LANGUAGE AT MINNEAPOLIS RALLY AMID DEMS' IMPEACHMENT PUSH
"Watching this situation in Minnesota just sickens my stomach."
Scott, a Republican who has served in the Senate since 2013, praised Minneapolis police for trying to quell the burgeoning crowd of angry demonstrators.
He said the protesters were trying to incite violence and antagonize law enforcement. Protesters at one point appeared to block vehicles trying to leave a parking lot near the Target Center, the downtown sports arena where the rally was held.
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Scott said those same protesters -- who were yelling at police and Trump supporters -- were the same people telling the president to "calm down."
"I've never seen such hypocrisy in all my life," he said, adding he had heard recently from a man who was reportedly accosted in New York for wearing a MAGA hat.
Civilians, he said, are "consistently being intimidated" and are being asked to "cower" to what he characterized as a "new, socialist regime."
"This approach toward anarchy continues to run amok. We cannot afford that in the greatest democracy on Earth."
"I've never seen such hypocrisy in all my life. ... This approach toward anarchy continues to run amok. We cannot afford that in the greatest democracy on Earth."
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During the rally, President Trump unloaded on Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden over their Ukrainian business dealings -- at one point bringing the crowd to its feet by charging that Biden's only useful trait as vice president was his preternatural ability to "kiss Barack Obama's a--."
Trump cited a new report by The Washington Examiner that the whistleblower at the center of the Trump impeachment inquiry had worked with Biden. The whistleblower's anti-Trump attorney, Mark Zaid, acknowledged earlier in the week that his client had "contact" with current presidential contenders "from both parties."
The president also derided the Biden campaign for aggressively seeking to convince Facebook and The New York Times, as well as all major television networks, not to cover what it called "conspiracy theories" about potential Biden corruption.
Fox News' Gregg Re contributed to this report.