From a Substack by West Point historian Terrence Goggin:
TRUMP’S FLOOR LEADER SENATOR RICK SCOTT
Rick Scott, the Senior Senator from Florida is right out of Hollywood’s proverbial central casting to be Donald Trump’s henchman in the Senate. After attending business school and law school he took to venture capitalism like a fish to water. He co founded the Columbia Hospital Corporation, which became Columbia/HCA, the largest for-profit healthcare company in the country. In 1997, as CEO, he was implicated in a massive federal investigation into Medicare and Medicaid fraud, and was forced to resign. Columbia/HCA then admitted to 14 felonies and paid $1.7 billion in fines.
He then switch to politics and became Governor of Florida in 2011 serving two terms. In 2019 he was elected to the Senate, defeating the incumbent Bill Nelson in an election so close it triggered a mandatory recount, in the most expensive Senate race in the nation. A hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin personally donated $10 million dollars to a PAC that supported Scott’s campaign. As Bernie Sanders would say, he’s an instrument of the oligarchs, to his bones. In 2020 he was one of 7 Senators to object to seating the electors from Pennsylvania, which would have deprived President Elect Joseph Biden of the Presidency. He has twice run for the Republican Leader of the Senate, losing both times, getting 10 votes in losing to McConnell and 13 votes in losing to Thune. Since January 2025 he has been Trump’s go to man in the Senate
Additional facts:
The Facts Newsletter
stated on February 25, 2014 in a press release:
Says Rick Scott “oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation’s history.”
Rick Scott ‘oversaw the largest Medicare fraud’ in U.S. history, Florida Democratic Party says
First, Gov. Rick Scott scared the bejesus out of seniors with an online ad claiming that Medicare rate cuts would lead them to lose access to their doctors, hospitals and preventive care.
Then, the Florida Democratic Party fired back at Scott, issuing a press release that called Scott “the ultimate Medicare thief.”
The Democrats were referring to Scott’s prior tenure as CEO of Columbia/HCA about a decade ago, when the hospital company was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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