Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the third-ranking Republican in the House, says he rejects all forms of bigotry after his admission last week that he addressed a white supremacist group in 2002, as GOP leaders speak to reporters following a caucus meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. Though he has received support from both Republicans and Democrats on the Hill, Scalise, of Louisiana, faced fresh questions about his 2002 speech to a Louisiana convention of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, which called itself EURO. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke founded the group, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as a hate group. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Story is developing as we post. Suspect in custody.ALEXANDRIA, VA – Rep. Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip who in recent years came under fire for speaking at a conference sponsored by a group founded by White supremacist David Duke, has been shot along with others during a baseball practice for congressional Republicans.
According to reports, Scalise was with 15-20 lawmakers who were practicing for the annual Congressional baseball game, when, according to Sen. Rand Paul who was in a batting cage at the time, 50-60 rifle shots rang out in the distance. Scalise reportedly was shot in the hip, and early reports say that congressional aides and two police officers were shot as well. A suspect, who has been described as a White, middle-aged male, is in custody.
In 2002, Scalise, a conservative Republican from Louisiana and then a member of that state’s legislature, spoke at a conference sponsored by the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, (EURO). When this was revealed in 2014, Scalise said he was not aware of EURO’s leanings, however a New York Time reporter later recalled Scalise in an interviewsaying that he was “like David Duke without the baggage,” In 2004, when the Louisiana House voted to make Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a national holiday, Scalise was one of six members to vote against.
Reportedly, Scalise’s injuries are not life-threatening.
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