During the latest episode of her podcast Honestly with Bari Weiss on Wednesday, the former New York Times reporter claimed that a staffer at the Times sought to get an op-ed from Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) approved by then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) before publishing the article in 2020.
With Scott as her featured guest on the podcast, Weiss, who made headlines in 2020 for leaving the New York Times due to what she called an “illiberal environment,” recalled the debate between newsroom staffers over publishing a story on Scott’s 2020 legislation, the Justice Act, which was never signed into law.
“I wanna tell you a little story that I’m not sure if you know,” Weiss said to Scott, about the senator’s “op-ed about the bill and why it fell apart.”
She continued, “And this is the part I’m not sure if you know. There was a discussion about the piece and whether or not we should run it. And one colleague, a more senior colleague, said to a more junior colleague who was pushing for the piece, ‘Do you think the Republicans really care about minority rights?’”
“Wow,” Scott replied.
“And the more junior colleagues said, ‘I think Tim Scott cares about minority rights.’ And then, and here’s the pretty shocking part. The more senior colleague said, ‘Let’s check with Senator Schumer before we run it,’” Weiss recalled.
“Are you surprised to hear that? Or does that story feel kind of representative of the way the media has treated you and maybe some of your colleagues?” Weiss asked Scott.
“I am disappointed to hear that. I am not surprised to hear that. You have to remember that The Washington Post fact-checked my life,” he claimed, referencing how the paper spent “three or four months” going through “records to find out whether or not my grandfather actually dropped out of the school in the third grade, their records suggested he dropped out in the fourth grade, but still didn’t learn to read.”
“They wanted to know if I had somehow hidden my silver spoon and just was using a plastic spoon instead,” the senator commented, adding, “there is something national media wants to frame any conservatives, particularly Black conservatives, as being disingenuous or insincere or a tool for the conservatives. When in fact the Black community is consistently as conservative as any community.”