Rachel Scott
Rachel Scott is the senior congressional correspondent for ABC News, reporting from Capitol Hill across all programs and platforms, including “Good Morning America,” “World News Tonight with David Muir,” “Nightline,” “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” “20/20,” ABC News Live, ABC News Digital and ABC Audio.
Scott also serves as the network’s lead campaign correspondent. She crisscrossed the country, reporting throughout the Republican primary, and now, she extensively covers the campaign of former President Trump. Scott has conducted several exclusive interviews with leaders from both parties, including two sitting vice presidents, Kamala Harris and Mike Pence.
Her reporting on the far-reaching impacts of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision was recognized by the esteemed Peabody Awards program twice in two years – selected as a winner in 2021 for Nightline’s “The Appointment” and as a finalist in 2023 for Impact x Nightline’s “On the Brink” with anchor Diane Sawyer.
Her questioning of political and world leaders has also driven the news cycle. She was part of the international press pool traveling with President Biden for his first official meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Scott pressed Putin on human rights abuses, stating, “The list of your political opponents who are dead, imprisoned, or jailed is long … So my question is, Mr. President, what are you afraid of?” She followed up when he did not answer her question: “You didn’t answer my question, sir…If all of your political opponents are dead, in prison, or poisoned, doesn’t that send a message that you don’t want a fair political fight?”
Scott’s first day covering Capitol Hill as the incoming congressional correspondent was Jan. 6, 2021. From the moment rioters stormed the Capitol, Scott provided extensive live reports as the insurrection unfolded. In the following weeks, she led the network’s coverage of former President Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial. She has also been front and center of coverage on several major stories, including covering the longest battle for House Speaker since the Civil War, confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, negotiations over the 2021 historic bipartisan infrastructure package, and the 2022 passage of the most significant gun safety legislation in decades.
Before covering Capitol Hill, Scott was a White House correspondent and a Washington, D.C., correspondent. In 2020, she provided extensive, on-the-ground coverage of the nationwide protests over police brutality and the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on communities of color. Additionally, on the presidential campaign trail in 2020, she traveled thousands of miles touring the country to cover both the Democratic Party primary and the Trump campaign, often in the same week.
Scott’s reporting has been featured on several ABC News primetime specials, including Juneteenth, the fall of Afghanistan, State of the Union and President Biden’s inauguration. She has been recognized with several additional prestigious honors in journalism, including an Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award and multiple Emmy® and Edward R. Murrow Awards.
Scott was named the NABJ Emerging Journalist of the Year in 2020 and listed on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list that same year. In 2022, Scott received the inaugural Emmy Award for the Emerging Journalist category. She has also been recognized as the 2024 Washingtonian’s Outstanding Journalist in Broadcast Television. She has received awards from the New York Press Club Journalism, Society of Professional Journalists and the National Institute for Health Care Management’s Television Award.
Her career began at ABC News as a production associate for ABC News Live in 2016. While working as a full-time producer for “GMA” Digital, Scott took on an additional role as a weekend general assignment reporter for WTNH-TV, ABC News’ New Haven, Connecticut, affiliate. Scott is a native of Southern California and a graduate of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.
