Sen. Tim Scott: Joe Biden made the “most condescending and arrogant comments toward the black community he has ever heard.”

Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said he's offended by Joe Biden's "arrogant, ridiculous" comment to a black radio host that if he's struggling to decide whether to support Biden or President Donald Trump in the general election then he "ain't black."

"That is most condescending and arrogant comment I've heard in a very long time," Scott, the sole black Republican serving in the US Senate, said Friday on Fox Business.

The remarks come after an interview on the radio show "The Breakfast Club" in which host Charlamagne Tha God told Biden he should come to the studio in New York City for another interview, telling the former vice president that "we've got more questions."

"You've got more questions?" Biden replied. "Well, I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black."

Charlemagne responded that "it don't have nothing to do with Trump. It has to do with the fact" that he wants something to benefit the African American community.

In his interview with Fox Business, Scott pointed to the more than 1 million African Americans who voted for Trump in the 2016 election. Trump won 8% of the black vote, according to exit polls. More than 136 million people voted in the 2016 election.

"(Biden's) saying to 1.3 million African Americans that you are not black? Who in the heck does he think he is?" Scott said.

"That is the most arrogant, outrageous comment I've heard in a very long time and I take offense to that," he added.

The Republican senator made that same argument on Twitter.

"1.3 million black Americans already voted for Trump in 2016. This morning, Joe Biden told every single one of us we 'ain't black.' I'd say I'm surprised, but it's sadly par for the course for Democrats to take the black community for granted and brow beat those that don't agree," Scott tweeted Friday.

Scott has also called out Trump's "racially insensitive" comments, even having a Oval Office meeting in 2017 to discuss race with the President.

Senior Biden adviser Symone Sanders said later Friday that Biden's comments were made "in jest."

"Vice President Biden has spent his career fighting alongside and for the African American community. He won his party's nomination by earning every vote and meeting people where they are and that's exactly what he intends to do this November," Sanders wrote on Twitter.

"The comments made at the end of the Breakfast Club interview were in jest, but let's be clear about what the VP was saying: he was making the distinction that he would put his record with the African American community up against Trump's any day. Period."

In a phone call Friday with reporters and Trump campaign senior adviser Katrina Pierson, Scott said he was "shocked and surprised" by Biden's comment.

"I could not believe my ears, that he would stoop so low to tell folks what they should do, how they should think and what it means to be black," Scott said.

Asked about Sanders' claim that Biden's remarks "were made in jest," Scott said, "I won't even dignify that with a response."

In an appearance on ABC's "The View," Republican Sen. Tim Scott R.-S.C, touted his efforts to combat the disproportionate and devastating affect coronavirus has had on the African-American community.

Scott was tapped by President Donald Trump to help address the staggering death and unemployment rates in minority communities due to COVID-19. During his interview on "The View" he highlighted his close relationship with the president and gave insight into the advice he's given the president on increasing telemedicine efforts and awareness of the Paycheck Protection Program in the African-American community.

"If you live in the rural parts of South Carolina whether you're black or white the reality of it is getting to a doctor is harder than it's ever been, and frankly for a long time we told folks don't come to the hospital," Scott said. "Telemedicine can bridge that gap and we need to make sure that the reimbursement rates are such that people will be able to afford to use telemedicine as providers and letting people get there, so that's one of the pieces of advice I've given to the President. The second piece of advice I've given to the president that, as a former small business owner myself, we need to make sure that African American businesses are fully aware of the paycheck protection program we have about 100 billion dollars left that we need to deploy."

The GOP senator also said that he has encouraged the administration to prioritize testing for these communities at churches.

"In order for us to help communities of color have the right locations to go visit to get the test," Scott said. "Sometimes you're more likely to walk to the church in your neighborhood then you are to find a ride to a local pharmacy or hospital so I've encouraged the testing to be done at churches at CVS or pharmacies or hospitals I want that everywhere."

As the lone Black Republican Senator, Scott was called on by Trump following the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and the release of the shocking video of his death.

"The video is really clear, that is murder 1 p.m. in the afternoon," Scott said. "I'm a black man that jogs too and I just thought to myself, 'Do I need to carry gun everywhere I go?' And I'm so frustrated by that video, so frustrated by the lack of response for six weeks, but I wanted the president to understand my frustration and my serious concern that we cannot afford to go back to a Jane's Byrd day in 1998 or Emmett Till's."

Scott also said that he has had ongoing conversations with the president about this deadly incident.

"I wanted the president to hear my thoughts on it and thankfully he called me that Friday evening, and we had a serious discussion about it," Scott said. "I was in the White House this weekend, we talked about it again, I was in there last weekend we talked about it again and I'm glad to see the Department of Justice is at least on the case."

While the president has been relentlessly attacking voting by mail suggesting that it leads to voter fraud, Scott was hesitant to express the same sentiments. Sunny Hostin pressed Scott on why it is ok for Trump to vote via mail but not an everyday American.

"Let's talk about our election senator, just this week, Trump threatened to cut funds to states like Michigan and Nevada stemming from absentee ballots so people wouldn't have to travel to the polls in a pandemic," Hostin said. "But President Trump mailed in his own ballot this March, even though he was across the street from a polling site in Florida. Why is it okay for the President to vote by absentee ballot, but not for every American?"

"Well Sunny that's great question. I'll look forward to you asking the president that question," Scott said. "I'll just tell you that in South Carolina. If you are over a certain age or if you're at work, you have the ability to be able to vote, an absentee form. I think that's the case throughout this nation in different forms, different states do different ways. The good news is that a local, local counties and municipalities, really control most of the election process, along with the state so I think you'll continue to see a robust approach to early voting as relates to states who have it and then for reasons you can vote early and other states."