Scalise Joins Fox to Discuss Assassination Attempt on Trump

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Tonight, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox News to discuss the shooting at President Trump's rally.

Click here or the image above to view Leader Scalise's full interview. 

On the shooting at a rally for President Trump: 

“It was difficult to watch, you know, it brings back a lot of emotions. You know, my first thoughts were to pray for President Trump. Early reports, you really weren’t sure what happened. You saw blood coming from his ear. But, you know, as we see now, I mean, it was a clear assassination attempt. I think there was maybe some divine intervention in preventing that from being much worse than it could have been. 

“There were other deaths. We pray for all of those that were injured or killed, innocently. You know, the shooter was down and you saw law enforcement take swift action. And we saw that, too, on the ball field. Law enforcement is the first to go run towards the danger. They did it today. They did it on the ball field. And that's one of the things that keeps more people safe when evil people show up to do things like this, and there's no place for it. There's just no place for violence in our politics in America and we can never accept it. We all need to forcefully denounce it.”

On Leader Scalise’s personal experience with political violence:

“[Congressman] Brad Wenstrup absolutely did [save my life]. Brad is a hero of mine. Brad, if he would have left early like he does some practices to go to his office – he had a meeting that got canceled so he stayed later than he normally would have. Otherwise, I might not be here right now. 

“The heroism of David Bailey and Crystal Griner, the two Capitol police officers who were there that day, who risked their lives, both of them. Both were hit during the shootout and kept going at it. Again, risked their life to protect mine and everyone else's. I mean, the shooter's intent was to take every Republican on that ball field. There would have been over a dozen members of Congress killed that day. But God was there, too. There were miracles that happened that day and a lot of prayer, a lot of miracles. 

“And I know there are prayers going out right now to [President] Donald Trump. And look, just remember, that night Donald Trump came to the hospital to check on me and just to console my family. That was his birthday, he left a birthday party to come and check on me, and just the kind of person he is. I texted him a little while ago because, you know, he's a special man. He's a strong man. I know that. But he's a caring person. He cares about people and cares about this country. And, you know, I know there are a lot of prayers going out to him right now, as well as to the families of those who were also injured and killed.”

On dangerous rhetoric:

“When you hear all these calls, and you know, you've been hearing it for months: Gee wiz if [President] Donald Trump wins, it's going to be a threat to America. Those kinds of things, that incendiary rhetoric needs to stop because all it takes is one person who's just unhinged to hear that and go act on it, and think that that's their signal to go take somebody out. 

“And we saw it in the case with the baseball shooting, with me. And you know, it was somebody who was hearing far-left rhetoric that was over the top and he acted on it. And, you know, in this case, we'll find out more information. We don't need to jump to conclusions, but I think we can all say it would be good if the rhetoric just gets dialed down.

“Let's focus on the issues that people care about. This is a great country, this is the greatest country in the history of the world. But we have problems and let's talk about those problems, how to fix those problems. And I think that's where most Americans want to be. And let's have a next few months focus on how we get this country back on track, and I think that would be better for all of us.”