Sen. Tim Scott To Meet With Trump Over Charlottesville Response

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Scott — the only black Republican currently serving in the Senate — said Trump's moral authority was comprised after the president equated neo-Nazis, KKK members and other white supremacists who organized the protests with those who demonstrated in opposition to the white supremacists' message. Three people — a pedestrian struck when a car was driven into a crowd of counterprotesters and two Virginia State Police officers killed in a helicopter crash — died in connection with the violence.

"I think there's blame on both sides," Trump told reporters during a news conference at Trump Tower last month. "You look at both sides — I think there's blame on both sides and I have no doubt about it, and you don't have any doubt about it either."

Scott: Trump's "moral authority is compromised"

"Racism is real. It is alive," Scott told VICE News in an interview that followed Trump's statements. He added, "What we want to see from our president is clarity and moral authority. And that moral authority is compromised... There's no question about that."

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday the meeting between Trump and Scott was one that the senator "wanted to have with the president, and the president wanted to have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with the senator."

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"If the president wants to have a better understanding and appreciation for what he should do next, he needs to hear something from folks who have gone through this painful history," Scott said. "Without that personal connection to the painful past, it will be hard for him to regain that moral authority, from my perspective."

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