Rick Scott Suggests He Was 'Persecuted' Over Giant Medicare Fraud

[BumRushDaShow]

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Source: Rolling Stone

May 9, 2024


Standing outside Donald Trump’s criminal trial, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) suggested he, like Trump, was the victim of unfair political persecution — pointing to the Justice Department’s inquiry into his hospital chain, which paid $1.7 billion to resolve Medicare fraud charges.

“I’m fed up,” Scott said Thursday. “I watched what happened to me and my company. I’ve talked to businesspeople over the years [about] what’s happened to them, when you have political persecution. And now what I’ve watched with [former] President Trump with all these cases. This is just simply — they don’t want this guy on the ballot.” He added, “I’ve had experience with this. Back in the 90s, I was the lead opponent to Hillarycare,” referring to then-First Lady Hillary Clinton’s health care plan.

“After it was defeated, she used the Justice Department to go after me and my company,” he claimed. “This can’t continue. What’s happening to this president is wrong.” Scott made similarly combative comments defending Trump in an appearance on Fox & Friends earlier on Thursday. “I fought Hillarycare, and guess what happened when I fought Hillarycare? Justice came after me and attacked me and my company,” he said.

Scott, the former governor of Florida, was previously the CEO of Columbia/HCA — now known as HCA Healthcare, the nation’s largest hospital chain. He resigned from Columbia/HCA after the FBI began a probe that ultimately resulted in the company paying $1.7 billion in fines to settle charges of rampant Medicare fraud. The fines were a record at the time.

Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/rick-scott-persecuted-medicare-fraud-trump-1235018008/

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[Lovie777]

1. Why are the GQP always victims?....................

shakes head. Ya know they love to dish it out but are extremely thin skinned when it backfires on them.

[barbtries]

2. you can't make this shit up.

i keep thinking i'm reading a satire piece and it's not. they're just right out there saying we're special, laws don't apply to us, we get to do any fucking thing we want and "civilization" and "democracy" be damned.

[maxsolomon]

3. Don Seligman says

tough shit.

[hlthe2b]

4. So, another throwing his corrupt-as-hell hat in the ring for VP?

[erronis]

14. Perhaps as the emergency stand-in for tfg?

I'm expecting a lot of backroom chatter in (r)epuglicon circles about pulling tfg as the candidate at the last minute.

Who would the maggots coalesce around?

Great piece in The Guardian about eventualies.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/05/what-happens-presidential-candidate-trump-biden-dies

[hlthe2b]

17. thanks... I'll read it a bit later.

[BoRaGard]

5. Whiney, victimy repubes are pathetically shameless

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Persecuted is when you think you're Jesus

and then you go criming so you can do the whining

[LiberalFighter]

7. F him he should be tarred and feathered in an ice cooler

[Wuddles440]

8. Actually....

this scumbag should have been criminally prosecuted for his role in perpetrating the fraud. He's extremely fortunate that the DOJ let him resign instead of having the extent of his culpability in this matter exposed in court.

[Blue Idaho]

9. Nope...

He was PROSECUTED for crimes committed by his hospital crime network. The fact that the fine was 1.7 BILLION dollars tells you the level of their assjackery. No persecution here, just the legal system working as it should - against the very rich.

[MacKasey]

11. The company was prosecuted

he had already been ousted

https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2018/08/30/democrats-medicare-fraud-is-fungus-scott-will-never-get-rid-of-573155

[MOMFUDSKI]

13. Then took the $$$ he stole from Medicare

and proudly announced he would be running on his OWN $$$! Lurch is a scum

[Rhiagel]

10. "Persecuted?"

He received a $300 Million Golden Parachute from his fraudulent company, which he used to purchase his place in the governor's mansion and in the Senate. His ill-gotten gains from taxpayers should be used against him, not for his benefit. Fraudster should be his middle name.

[House of Roberts]

12. And yet he pled the fifth 75 times when he was subpoenaed.

Only lying criminals plead the fifth, pRick.

[303squadron]

15. Persecuted all the way into a Senate seat

The voters of Florida knew he was a scumbag. They elected him anyway. And now, fearing that the voters will connect him with Trump while they are voting for marijuana and abortion rights, the scumbag is complaining.

He was interviewed by a local TV station on another matter recently....he looked like warmed over death....seriously like something was physically wrong with him.

[mountain grammy]

18. warmed over death.. sounds good to me

[Docreed2003]

16. Whenever those who believe themselves to be above accountability are held accountable

for their crimes, it's amusing to see them toss around words like "persecution" which are immediate sympathy buzzwords for their evangelical base.

[GB_RN]

19. To Paraphrase Some Shakespeare...

Thou doth protest too much, methinks.

If you’re innocent, why bother bringing it up and squealing like a stuck pig? If you were innocent, why’d you need to invoke the Fifth Amendment over 40 times during your deposition? Innocent people don’t need to take the Fifth…at least, that’s what your Tangerine Traitor-tot says. Are you telling me that Cantaloupe Caligula is wrong?!?!

And you weren’t politically persecuted, jackass. You weren’t even a politician at that time. You were (and are) just a corrupt, corporate hack, who stole billions from taxpayers…and got caught. You just happened not to get PROSECUTED, for which, you should count your lucky stars. Orange wouldn’t look good with your pasty complexion.

Oh, word of advice: Before you go slinging big words around, you might want to know what they mean. I’d suggest looking up the definitions of persecution and prosecution. The former never happened and the latter definitely should have. Crook.

[Turbineguy]

20. Stealing from the Government is OK if

you're a republican.

[paleotn]

21. No, "skeletor" should be in jail.

[GP6971]

22. Locking per Host Consensus

Feature Article / Analysis. Not LBN.