Rachel Scott

Rachel Scott is the 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 was part of the international press pool traveling with U.S. President Joe Biden for President Biden’s 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?” When he did not answer her question, she followed up: “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 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 the historic second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. She has also been front and center of coverage on several major stories, including the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, negotiations over the historic bipartisan infrastructure package and the passage of the first major gun safety legislation in decades.

Scott reports outside of Washington, D.C., as well. In 2021, she traveled around the country, meeting everyday Americans affected by the work of lawmakers. When Texas enacted the most restrictive abortion law in the nation, Scott went to Texas and shared an intimate story of one young woman’s journey across state lines to get an abortion. It was rare access that no other network was able to get. “The Appointment” on “Nightline” documented the lengths a 21-year-old college senior took in order to obtain an abortion, including the 400-mile journey to Mississippi. Her coverage earned a Peabody Award in 2021 for its “thoughtful, dogged reporting and commitment to demonstrating the real-life entrapments that would become more widespread after the impending fall of Roe.”

Prior to covering Capitol Hill, Scott was a White House correspondent and 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. As the nation experienced a racial reckoning, Scott was on the front lines of the protests in Washington, D.C., providing weeks of live coverage and reporting on one of its most controversial moments when former President Trump’s press event at St. John’s Church created a clash between police and peaceful protesters.

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 was an essential part of the news division’s reporting on the Trump administration, covering both of President Trump’s impeachment trials and interviewing Vice President Mike Pence hours before the first final impeachment vote in the House. She also covered the 2018 midterms, Hurricane Irma, and the aftermath of Alabama’s deadly tornadoes in 2019.

Scott’s reporting has been featured in several of ABC News’ primetime specials for Juneteenth, the fall of Afghanistan, State of the Union and the inauguration of President Biden.

She has been awarded a Peabody for her extensive abortion coverage and two Edward R. Murrow Awards for breaking news coverage following the death of George Floyd and the podcast series “Accountable” she hosted alongside senior White House correspondent Mary Bruce. 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 was awarded the first-ever Emerging Journalist Emmy Award.

Her career began at ABC News as a production associate for ABC News Live in 2016. While working full-time as a 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.