House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) offered a rare insight into the Republican campaign to stop his speaker bid in October following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
talking down the street, there were 30 other people you probably wouldn t pick him out. he asked one question and turned around and walked away? that s right. how did it feel to get back and realize you walked off this field five, ten minutes before it happened. i don t think it still hit me. we went to the gym to shower. and i see on the screen on the tv representative scalise shot. and i m thinking to myself had, we left five, ten minutes before this. it was just so crazy. and obviously, the initial thing is i hope steve is okay. and steve incidentally, i mean, he loves this baseball game. we ve raised 6350,000. steve is always wear a nice uniform. i haven t been playing lately because i ve been banged up. he s like we need you out there. i m playing this year. every time on the house floor, he says you re awesome. i ll be there if they do play. it will be sad if steve s not
it was incredibly shocking. we report so often about democrats and republicans being at he each other s throats, a term we use on tv. yet that is sort of the public display. behind the scenes display isn t quite so hostile and vit rio lic. there s more comradery here. we can always use more. we re like a family. sometimes we re hot at each other, sometimes very warm to each other and affectionate. you hit every note, squarely, it was perfect. you think of your profession, to talk to the people. that is the goal of a politician. yet going on talking to the people has gotten profoundly more dangerous. gabby gifford is a perfect example. part of our job is we attract attention, for better or worse as well. here for worse. the focus it s a planning,
as you are driving, did you start to hear the story? at what point did you put it altogether? it was what we had gotten back to the hill, and i was getting updates on my phone, but we were in the gym, showering, getting ready for the day. i saw it on tv, scalise shot. that is a shocking thing. when you are there 20 minutes beforehand dash go martha: you had just seen steve scalise. i was throwing him double-play balls. we are fielding ground balls, i was fielding balls, we did not have a dozen times, probably 10 minutes before he got shot. it was very surreal. once i got my phone, people had been contacting and jeff and i contacted capitol police, let them know what we knew about this individual. at the time, we didn t know what was the same guy. later, we found out it was. martha: what do you think the impact of this is, if any? there has been so much discussion this afternoon and this evening about whether or not this camaraderie leads to anything or have we just become so
good size weapon. was he carrying anything like a bag? it s hot here. i assume he didn t have a jacket on. so, i was already in the back seat. jeff had just gotten in. from my vantage point i saw him from the chest up so i did not see anything. it doesn t mean he didn t have it, but i just only saw him from the chest up. all right. so, then you left and so then tell me, when did you first realize there was shooting, then? we got to the hill and we were in the gym and getting dressed, showered for the day. and it s on the tv, scalise shot. it s shocking. i m like, what? we were just out there 10, 15 minutes ago. you know, shortly thereafter, obviously they identified him and sure enough that was the guy. you know, the fact that congressman scalise is in the leadership there was security. there were some capitol hill police, but they were greatly outpowered by the weapons i think he had, the shooter had. yet they heroically. without the unthinkable would have happened. it would h