TV news outlets were glued to the House floor this morning when Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) return for the first time since being shot during baseball practice in June.
“As you can imagine, these last three and a half months have been pretty challenging times for me and my family,” Scalise said, addressing TV cameras and colleagues, after walking in with the use of crutches to a very long standing ovation. He began to talk about the “outpouring of love…and prayer” he and his wife have received, from colleagues in the house, as well as world leaders, since he was shot on June 14, but said “It starts with god.”
Back then, as this morning, broadcast and major cable news outlets broke into programming to cover the unfolding story.
“When I was lying on that ballfield, the first thing I did once I was down and could not move any more, I started to pray, and it gave me an unbelievable sense of calm, knowing I was in a good hands,” Scalise said.
Scalise said “every one of those prayers was answered” proving the “power of prayer is something you cannot underestimate.”
“I am definitely a living example that miracles definitely do happen,” he said.
One of the first things for which Scalise said he prayed, was that his security detail could “carry out their duties.”
Scalise was among Republican politicos practicing for an annual congressional charity baseball game early June 14 when a gunman opened fire at the ballpark in Alexandria, VA. Scalise was shot in the hip and four other people, including Scalise’s two U.S. Capitol police offers providing security, were hit.
The gunman died of wounds sustained in a shootout at the scene. According to some press reports about 50 shots were fired, though a witness told CNN that was “an understatement.”
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