House majority leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican who survived a politically-motivated attack when he was shot at a congressional baseball practice in 2017, speaks to "CBS Mornings" about the Charlie Kirk shooting.

Washington

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise addressed the recent shooting of Charlie Kirk, describing it as a tragic attack on American political discourse. Scalise, who survived a politically motivated shooting in 2017, reflected on the importance of resolving political differences peacefully and denounced violence as a means of expression.

Scalise called for unity and urged both political leaders and the public to avoid demonizing opponents. He highlighted the value of open debate and the need for law enforcement to bring those responsible to justice, while expressing support for Kirk's family and emphasizing the broader need for constructive dialogue.

Rep. Steve Scalise talks about Charlie Kirk shooting

On those national implications, we are joined now by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who himself survived a politically motivated attack back in 2017 when he was shot at a congressional baseball practice. Congressman, thank you very much for being here. You know, to take a shot to kill somebody who at that very moment is engaged in an act of political debate under a tent that says, prove me wrong, is an attack on the basic idea of American politics, on the country itself. And that is also true of the attack on you back in 2017, and yet we couldn't prevent it from happening again. What's your reaction, sir, and how do we get it right this time? Yeah, Tony, it's so sad for so many reasons, and Charlie was somebody we all respected. Charlie was somebody that inspired young people, and not just young people, millions of people to get involved in politics, even people who didn't agree with him. But it was partly because he did engage with people, as you mentioned, in discourse. Even if people disagreed with him, he wasn't calling them names. He would engage and talk about the differences. And we've got to get back to that. We cannot let what happened yesterday be the norm. And unfortunately, we've seen politics degrading, where some people feel if they disagree with you politically, they've got to try to go and eliminate those people. That is not what America is. We solve our differences at the ballot box, and it's just sad that what happened yesterday in Utah did happen. I sure support law enforcement and their efforts to catch the shooter, and I'm confident they will, but it's just such a sad loss for our country. That's the word we keep using, Congressman. I still can't—I'm still trying to process it because it's so upsetting, and I remember when you were shot, and I remember the country praying for you. Did this take—did this incident take back—did it take you back to that day in time? And at the time when this happened, we all said, this has got to stop, this has got to stop, and it has not stopped. But I'm wondering personally what this meant to you yesterday, to hear this story and to see the story the way it's unplaying now. Yeah, Gail, yesterday was a tough day. I mean, you know, as I'm processing what happened to Charlie, and he hadn't passed away yet, you could see from the videos that were out there, it was a bad, a bad shot, and I'm praying for his family, and I think we all need to keep Charlie's family, my gosh, that beautiful young family, in our prayers. But then we had votes on the House floor, and, you know, we were on the House floor for about an hour and a half, and I just—it was hard to focus because, you know, my mind just kept going back to Charlie and his family. Charlie surely went back to 2017 and the shooting where, you know, a crazed gunman tried to kill me and about a dozen other members of Congress because of our political beliefs. And, you know, you just don't want—and this can't be allowed to be acceptable. We all have to denounce what happened yesterday and all resolve to do better. And our friends that we know that maybe get more vitriolic, you know, you can be angry about politics, but you don't express that violently. You can't express it violently. But we're not doing better. But we're not doing better. That's the problem. Go ahead, Nate. I know. I know. And yesterday was a great example of that. You are right. We do have to denounce and move forward. But too often in these tragedies, our leaders default to blaming the other side. What does a more constructive conversation look like? What role should Congress play in leading us there? Because right now we are fractured. Yeah, Nate. And you know, what we all need to do is, number one, recognize one of the greatest things of America is that we do have differences and that we can express them. There are countries where you can't. You'll be executed in the street for disagreeing with your government. So number one, celebrate the fact that we have differences and we can freely express them and don't allow anybody to try to threaten somebody, to try to physically attack somebody for their differences. And that's not just all of us in politics. We clearly need to do better. And I share that with my colleagues all the time. We're going to have differences. Don't make them personal. Don't try to demonize. You almost make somebody a character, a meme, instead of a human being. And that's what we all are. And that's what Charlie was. Yeah. You are right. You can't demonize someone or not. Political violence, violence of any kind, is not the answer. Representative Steve Scalise, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks Nate.

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