Tim Scott Recalls Trump Telling Him ‘Help Me Help Those I Have Offended’ After Charlottesville

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) told Fox News his relationship with Donald Trump was “made” by fallout from the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally.

Scott joined Fox & Friends for a Thursday interview as part of a series examining all of Trump’s potential vice presidential picks. Lawrence Jones sat down with Sen. J.D. Vance (R-PA) the previous day . Ainsley Earhardt sat with Scott.

“I will say that it was the Charlottesville incident that made our relationship what it is today,” Scott said after Earhardt noted the senator had said Trump “compromised his moral authority” with his response to the deadly protest.

The Charlottesville rally included white supremacists gathered with tiki torches to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue. The rally ended with someone deliberately driving a vehicle into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring dozens. Trump found himself facing blowback after he noted there were “very fine people” in Charlottesville, though he was not referring to white supremacists whom he condemned.

Scott recalled being called to the White House after the August 2017 protest in his state. The senator claimed Trump asked for help connecting with those he “offended,” and economic Opportunity Zones—meant to bolster the economies of low-income communities—were born out of the conversation.

“He invited me to the Oval Office to talk about race relations in America,” he said. “He wanted me to share with him my perspective. He listened, and after we finished talking, he said, ‘Help me help those I have offended.’ That’s how Opportunity Zones were born.”

In April, Trump referenced Charlottesville and called it a “little peanut” compared to pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses.

“We’re having protests all over; he’s talking about Charlottesville. Charlottesville was a little peanut, and it was nothing compared, and the hate wasn’t the kind of hate you have here. This is tremendous hate,” he said .

Watch above via Fox News.