A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, January 28, 2023 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.

       MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC "THIS WEEK" CO-ANCHOR: South Carolina Senator Tim Scott was standing with Trump as he declared victory in New Hampshire on Tuesday. And Senator Scott joins us now.

       Thank you so much for being here.

       SEN. TIM SCOTT, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA & (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, ma'am. Thank you for having me.

       RADDATZ: I want to start with the breaking news on Friday, and that was that your candidate, former President Trump, was ordered by a jury to pay $83 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. He was also found before, as you know, liable for sexual abuse.

       Does that give you any pause in your support?

       SCOTT: You know, myself and all the voters that support Donald Trump supports a return to normalcy as it relates to what affects their kitchen table. The average person in our country, Martha, isn’t – they’re not talking about lawsuits. As a matter of fact, what I have seen, however, is that the perception that the legal system is being weaponized against Donald Trump is actually increasing his poll numbers.

       RADDATZ: I understand that, but this was -- they were jury trials. They were jury trials. They started when Donald Trump was president. You -- that does – that gives you no pause whatsoever?

       SCOTT: I don't have a -- the Democrats don't pause when they think about Hunter Biden and the challenges that – that he brings to his father. The one thing I think the electorate is thinking about most often is how in the world will the next president impact my quality of life? How will America regain its standing in this world? They were better off under Trump, and they're looking for four more years of low inflation, low crime, low unemployment, and high enthusiasm for our country. We haven't had that in the last four years.

       RADDATZ: I spoke to a lot of voters this week, and I do want to go back to Tuesday night and even before that. Donald Trump had an incredibly strong victory in Iowa. Of course, New Hampshire, a double-digit lead. He is clearly the frontrunner, but those are just two states.

       SCOTT: Yes. Yes.

       RADDATZ: And you just heard about Nikki Haley's fundraising ability.

       SCOTT: Yes.

       RADDATZ: Why should she drop out?

       SCOTT: Well, there's two things for sure. Number one, Donald Trump gets more earned media, probably a billion dollars already, because of who he is and what's going on around him, number one.

       Number two, I think he was outspending Iowa and New Hampshire by his opponents. One thing we know for sure, as this race turns to South Carolina, that the enthusiasm in South Carolina for the former president has never been higher. I've seen polls that suggest he's up by 20 points. I would make a prediction that he wins by more than 20 percent in South Carolina.

       But, yes, there's only been two competitions so far. Here's what I'll tell you. My theory is a simple one. When I dropped out of the race in November, it was because the writing was clear on the wall then. It is now more clear that what Republicans, conservatives, and a lot of independents want today is four more years of Donald Trump.

       RADDATZ: Trump showed weakness among independents, however, a group that he would need if he wins -- if he tries to win in November. Nikki Haley won 60 percent of self-identified independents in the state. How does he win over those voters?

       SCOTT: Well, the numbers coming out of New Hampshire were really impressive. I'm not an analyst. You’re an expert at this, Martha. But I will say, one of the things I found to be surprising and positive is that amongst millennial voters, President Trump won 58 to 38. It was a 20-point gap among young voters. Among women voters, in New Hampshire, where liberal, Democrats and independents voted in the Republican primary, President Trump beat Nikki Haley among women.

       So, when I think about the fact – when I think about the fact that African Americans, at the highest level in my lifetime, is looking at a Republican over 20 percent, Hispanics over 40 percent. This is a good time to be running as a Republican.

       RADDATZ: OK. I want to stop you there –

       SCOTT: Sure.

       RADDATZ: Because again, the independent voters, and that is clearly something Donald Trump needs to get if he expects to win in November if he gets the nomination. I want you to listen to a bit of Donald Trump's speech after his win in New Hampshire.

       (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

       DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can't let people get away with -- OK? You can't. You just can't do that. And when I watched her in the fancy dress, that probably wasn't so fancy, come up, I said, what's she’s doing, we won.

       (END VIDEO CLIP)

       RADDATZ: He has also called Haley a bird brain, questioned whether she has the right to run for president because her immigrant parents were not yet legal citizens. How does that attract independents? How does that attract people who voted for Nikki Haley?

       SCOTT: Well, here's what I can tell you, both candidates, and all candidates, should focus on the issues without any question. But Nikki Haley talks about the president's age and a competency test. I think that turns off senior voters. It's one of the reasons why --

       RADDATZ: But go back to Donald Trump.

       SCOTT: It’s –

       RADDATZ: I want to talk about Donald Trump.

       SCOTT: Well, it's one of the reasons why senior voters support Donald Trump.

       Here's what we should ask ourselves. And I'm asking myself --

       RADDATZ: Please -- please answer the question about him calling her a bird brain.

       SCOTT: But let’s –

       RADDATZ: You worked with her. She appointed you a senator. Do you like that kind of language?

       SCOTT: His language is far more provocative than mine.

       But this is not about simply my opinion of one candidate. I also think that talking about someone's age is inappropriate when especially they are competent, qualified, and ready to go to be the next president of the United States.

       And, by the way, Martha, Republican primary contests are Republican primary contests. Seventy-plus percent of Republicans in New Hampshire supported the president. This race is over from a primary perspective.

       RADDATZ: Okay, but --

       SCOTT: We should turn our attention to Joe Biden. The economy is devastating for poor Americans.

       RADDATZ: I want to -- I want to hit one more thing.

       SCOTT: Yes, ma'am.

       RADDATZ: You stated flatly after the 2020 election that Joe Biden is the legitimate president, saying, of course, he is. Donald Trump denies that.

       Thirty-one percent of Republicans think Biden's election was legitimate.

       Does that concern you for the Republican Party? That they're denying something you said was true?

       SCOTT: Listen. I would love to spend -- if we have an hour to chat together, I’d spend lots of time breaking down who believes what. Here's what's more important than this --

       RADDATZ: I just broke it down who believes what.

       SCOTT: Yeah, actually --

       RADDATZ: We know what you believe and we know what Donald Trump believes.

       SCOTT: It's your show. You get to decide what we talk about.

       I will simply say that the American people are more concerned about tomorrow than they are yesterday. And because of that, the race that we're seeing coming to light today is Joe Biden's four years versus Donald Trump's four years. We don’t need to litigate what happened in 2020.

       What we should be focusing on, what I’m focusing on is what’s going to happen in 2024 and beyond for one reason. As a kid who grew up in poverty, in a single-parent household, the one thing I wondered in the poorest communities in North Charleston was, was the American dream real for a kid like me?

       In today's America, the devastation of crime and chaos is eating the lunch of too many poor people living in tough neighborhoods. I want to make sure that we have law and order and opportunity, abundant opportunity for all Americans.

       RADDATZ: Hey, thanks for joining us this morning, Senator.

       SCOTT: Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Martha.

       JONATHAN KARL: Michelle Obama, as I'm sure you saw, said that people should be terrified about what could possibly happen with the outcome of this election. Is she right to be terrified?

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we all should be, I mean, what more evidence do you need? I mean, here's a guy who lost the election -- Trump -- and tried to wreck the country. He’s lighting democracy on fire, he’s making democracy a partisan issue. I never imagined that in my lifetime, so the consequences are profound and pronounced, and that's why I'm down here because this race is started. And we need to lift up the issues, the successes, this extraordinary successes of the last three years, the Biden-Harris administration. And then we drive contrast. It's not even a complicated campaign. We have the receipts. We have the best three year record of any modern American presidency, period. Full stop. And you look at the issue, issue by issue, they poll overwhelmingly, the American people support what Biden has done.

       JONATHAN KARL: Except for the big thing, approval.

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Yeah.

       JONATHAN KARL: Biden's approval is historically low. Why is that?

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Everybody’s, everybody, we're all, everybody's approval across the spectrum. You find exceptions to that. Look, it's been hard globally the last six, seven years. But again, America stands tall. We’re the tent pole of the world economy -- no peers economically, again a masterclass of delivery. The economy is booming, inflation is cooling. And of course, the economic strategies this president’s put together were all things Republicans dreamt of but never delivered. He’s delivered.

       JONATHAN KARL: Obviously the border is, is an issue. But let me ask you just a fundamental question to try to get beyond the politics for a second, you've had 6 million apprehensions at the border. What ultimately should happen to all those people? And the people that don't qualify for asylum who totally came in illegally. I mean, should there be deportations? This is what Republicans are calling for these mass roundups in the--but what happens?

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Well, I think you have to deal with the cards that are dealt. You got to deal with the reality on the ground, and you have to have a comprehensive conversation around this, across the spectrum, the push and the pull. And that's around the fundamental issue immigration reform. It's not just border security. The president put out a comprehensive strategy, a pathway to citizenship along the lines of their former hero, Ronald Reagan, to address the reality on the ground. We have a plan, $14 billion plan right now to get more judges, to process people more efficiently, more quickly, provide security down at the border, 2,300 new border agents. That's what the President of the United States has put up in front of Congress. And they refuse to act. They're just promoting an agenda to disrupt and find a crowbar, to put in the spokes of the wheels of the Biden administration to disrupt any progress on this, because they don't want progress, period.

       JONATHAN KARL: Let me ask you about Trump's legal problems. Obviously, four indictments, 91 counts, includes, you know, taking classified documents out of the White House, undermining democracy, all of that.

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Disqualifying.

       JONATHAN KARL: -- and he's out there and he's out there saying he should have absolute immunity. A president should be above the law.

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Laughable. Laughable.

       JONATHAN KARL: All of that. So why, in light of all of that, why have we seen poll after poll and I know it's early — but still — poll after poll that shows Trump either beating Biden or essentially tied.

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Yeah, but you’ve also seen poll after poll -- I'm not naive about this. I take the threat of Trump and Trumpism very seriously. I've never been on the other side of that argument. That said, this is the weakest candidate to run a major party in my lifetime. He's coming in deeply damaged. Democrats, we win. We keep winning. We've won all of these elections, post-Dobbs different world — But hold on.

       JONATHAN KARL: But it makes my question even more relevant

       GAVIN NEWSOM: But no. But look

       JONATHAN KARL: So why is Biden not beating him?

       GAVIN NEWSOM: But look at the polling.

       JONATHAN KARL: Yeah

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Look underneath the hood on the polling. Look at the New Hampshire polls. Look at some of the national polls. Republicans say if he's convicted, all those things you said are true and he's convicted. And the likelihood of conviction is, what, 98%? On one of the counts.

       JONATHAN KARL: By Election Day? You think it is?

       [crosstalk]

       JONATHAN KARL: By Election Day?

       GAVIN NEWSOM: We'll see. But I mean, at least to one of those four, right? Of the 91 charges, one of those four. Vast majority, I mean a substantial plurality of Republicans now, or at least a large percentage, say no, no go. I think that's a huge red flag for Donald Trump. He is weak. He is more unhinged than he's ever been. He's less disciplined than he's ever been. He's less interesting. I find him just less interesting. He’s not even as entertaining as he was in 2020 and 2016.

       JONATHAN KARL: How worried are you about a third party? There'll be multiple third party candidates, so it doesn't take a lot. I know a third party candidate isn't likely to be elected president — or beat either one.

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Spoilers.

       JONATHAN KARL: But, I mean, how worried are you -- yeah. How worried are you about that?

       GAVIN NEWSOM: We have to be worried. But you know what? You got to control the controllables. You got to control what you have to control. And right now, it's getting the vote out.

       JONATHAN KARL: Do you think it's a mistake, then, for Democrats to try to keep these third party candidates, No Labels and the others off the ballot? Because you're seeing an effort.

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Yeah. I think when again, when you try to suppress choice and voice, it tends to backfire.

       JONATHAN KARL: Especially when you're talking about the importance of democracy if you're trying to keep people out.

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Yeah. So I don't get consumed by that. And I'm not here on behalf of the Biden administration even thinking about that. I'm a simple guy, but but what I mean by that is I look at, for example, let's look at No Labels. I actually took the time -- I encourage people to look up what are they for -- And I thought, wow, this is -- literally reads as the accomplishment list of the Biden-Harris administration. So I, they're a solution in search of a problem, I respectfully submit.

       JONATHAN KARL: You, you've taken on this fight with some of the red state governors, obviously, Ron DeSantis –

       GAVIN NEWSOM: I appreciate you noticing.

       JONATHAN KARL: And you said you did it because you don't think Democrats were fighting hard enough. Does that include the Biden Administration, Biden–

       GAVIN NEWSOM: It was, that was a year and a half ago, now I don't feel that way anymore. Absolutely not. Look, the– when Dobbs hit, that was a wake up call. Because one thing we've learned with this anger industry on the right wing side is illusion dominates facts. It's narrative trumping facts. That's why Trump himself uses the courtroom as a campaign stop. It's to dominate the narrative. And I would hope that Democrats learn a little bit about communications strategy by flooding the zone and starting to get back on our feet in terms of dominating the narrative. That's exactly what Biden's been doing. That's exactly what Harris has been doing on issues related to choice. And it's exactly why I'm here.

       JONATHAN KARL: One other important thing kind of looming over this, obviously, a lot of discussion of President Biden's age, um which, which brings -- raises the question, if something were to happen to Biden.

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Okay. Something could happen to any of us?

       JONATHAN KARL: Right.

       GAVIN NEWSOM: All right.

       JONATHAN KARL: So what happens? Is it, is it Kamala Harris?

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Well, we know that. She's the vice president of the United States? Absolutely. By definition, something happens to me, it's the lieutenant governor of the state of California.

       JONATHAN KARL: I’m talking about as the candidate. I mean.

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Yeah, oh, come on.

       JONATHAN KARL: So she’s the nominee?

       GAVIN NEWSOM: Biden, you’ve–we've all spent time with Biden and spent time with him, I mean three hours on photo lines on three events a day, then giving speeches. Are you kidding? At 80 years old, to be in that kind of health? I have no issues whatsoever. And by the way, I'm an old fashioned guy. You know, I think Bobby Kennedy said it best. What the world needs are the qualities of youth. Not a time of life, a state of mind, a quality of imagination. That's Joe Biden.