i'm afraid we would have all been dead. >> we are strongest when we are unifi unified. >> an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. >> after the firing of james comey, the fbi began to investigate the president for obstruction of justice. >> i still think it is outrageous the fbi is continuing to leak. >> it is a huge deal. the president of the united states is under criminal investigation. >> this is "new day" with chris koe me and alisyn camerota. >> good morning. welcome to your new day. it is thursday, june 15th, 8:00 in the east. there are two big stories for you this morning. steve scalise is still in critical condition. he is still fighting because of that gunshot wound during that ambush at the virginia baseball field.

investigators are digging into the attackers criminal record, his on line anti-trump rants. were there any signs he was headed in this direction? >> so this attack is testing the resolve of unity from president trump and lawmakers as their charity baseball game goes on tonight as planned. meanwhile, the washington post is reporting that special counsel robert mueller is investigating president trump for possible obstruction of justice. the president slams this probe as phony and the biggest witch hunt in american political history. we have it all covered for you. let's begin live in all sand rea, virginia. >> the fbi ramps up their investigation with with the help of other agencies and local law enforcement, calling for the public to come forward with any information they have as they try to dig into how and why he carried out this horrific attack.

here's how it unfolded. >> the chilling sound of a barrage of gunfire captured in this cell phone video. 66-year-old james hod kin son, a critic of president trump unleashing a hail of bullets on republican lawmakers, practicing on the eve of a baseball team. >> somebody on the field yelling run, he's got a gun. i ran into dug out like most people on the field. >> shots being fired and there are people running, possibly victims involved. >> the lone gunman was armed with a rifle and nine millimeter handgun, exchanging fire with capitol police officers who were there to protect the house majority whip steve scalise. local police joining in the fire fight. >> there is a victim down in the

baseball field. >> steve scalise was on second base when he was shot in his left hip. >> he dragged himself after he was shot from near second base about 10 or 15 yards into the field just to be i think a little farther away from the gunmen. >> four others also wounded in the attack. witnesses now praising the heroic actions of law enforcement in prevents further casualties. >> i saw two of them go towards the shooter. they were putting their lives directly in the line of fire. >> it was the capitol police that saved us all. >> authorities say the gunmen drove from illinois to virginia in march and had been living out of a white cargo van spending much time in this ymca adjacent to the ball field. >> he asked me if this team was the republican or democrat team practicing. i responded that it was the republican team practicing and he proceeded to shoot republicans. take that for what it's worth. >> the attacker's on line post

show a hatred of president trump and republicans. writing on facebook in march, trump is a traitor. trump has destroyed our democracy. it is time to destroy trump and company. a month earlier republicans are the taliban of the usa, a family member of the attacker telling the no"the new york times" that came to washington in recent weeks to protest trump. the gunman also liked a political cartoon suggesting that steve scalise should be fired. although, it is unclear if steve scalise was specifically targeted in the attack. >> this morning steve scalise is still in the hospital in critical condition. the hospital putting out a statement saying the bullet fractured bones, injuries internal organs and causing severe bleeding. he has received multiple blood transfusions and will require more operations. >> those who know him well are asking everybody to keep steve scalise in your thoughts and prayers.

he is not out of the woods yet. alex, thank you very much. look, there is no question as bad as this attack was, it would have been so much worse if not for the police, the security detail that was there and the congressman who took it even in a moment of crisis as a call to duty and to help their fellow man. ohio representative brad is a doctor and combat surgeon in iraq. as soon as the capitol police took down the shooter, he rushed to help congressman steve scalise, providing immediate medical attention that could have made all the difference. joining us now is the congressman of ohio. congressman, thank you for joining us. it is amazing to me that you are back in a suit and tie, back on the job after what you lived through yesterday. how is your head? how is your heart? >> my heart is heavy. my head is fine. thank you for keeping steve in your prayers and asking the nation to do the same. steve was very courageous, very

brave. when i got to him, he responded to my questions. i asked him to count to five. immediately started assessing his wound. i figured we had a bigger problem when i only found an entry wound and no exit wound. we put pressure on that. when the medics got there, i cut a clotting bandage on. i didn't want to move him. my concern is how much damage was done to bone. did he hit any major vessels and did he get to his internal organs. i can only assume the bullet traversed upward and apparently it has. it is normal for multiple surgeries. to take care of steve. >> we will monitor his situation. we understand now from your perspective and we have dr. sanjay gupta who is saying a lot of the same things and everybody says steve scalise is a fighter. how is everybody at home?

everybody was okay with you getting back to work today? >> absolutely. when i called my wife, i work her up. so i'm glad she didn't know about it. when she came into the office, she burst into tiears a little bit later as you might imagine. but we're doing fine. i'm concerned about a lot of members that have never been through something like this. i certainly didn't expect it in this environment, where i'm without armor, without a weapon and without the infantry. but you were right about the capitol police. even while being shot, they took this guy down. >> david bailey in particular got hit, kept going, trying to get to steve scalise, trying to do what he could. there were brave men and women on the field. you said i felt like i was back in iraq. but you weren't. you were unarmed as you say. what was motivating you to get through those moments? >> you know, most of it was just instinct for me. i got down. and what you have to understand,

this guy was on the move. there is only one exit from that field. everybody on that field is inside a fenced area, so they're running for the opposite dug out and they're running for the exit. and he used the dug out and another building to shield himself as he was trying to come towards more of us and trying to take out more of us. if those two police officers were not there, he could have just come in and just had a field day. and, so thank god they were. but instinct kicked in and i just was watching steve and watching steve out there on the field all by himself, seeing if he was still moving and once they had him down and they were yelling don't move, don't move, that's when i ran out, as did a few of the other members and i think we did the best we could for steve in that situation, not moving him, stopping the bleeding and just making sure he's okay and hydrating him, too. i knew he was losing blood. >> thank god you were there and you helped him. it may have made all the difference. what do you tell yourself about, you know, you're not in iraq.

you're practicing for a charity baseball game. what sense do you make of this? what do you take away from it. >> it's interesting because two weeks ago i wrote a piece called united we stand, divided we fall. i take it that america has to take a deep breath. we live in a country where we get to elect our officials. if you don't like him, you got a chance to try and unelect him if you will. we should be thankful for that every day and not doing so much of what is taking place today. sometimes the rhetoric of members here, maybe it's the media and it's people themselves on social media. you know pope john paul the second one time said freedom consists not in doing what you will, but having the right to do what you ought and i think we ought to keep that in mind. >> beautiful words. poin yent especially now. souds right you guys are going ahead and playing. it is for charity.

hopefully you'll raise more money than ever. how will you feel out there tonight? >> i feel very good. actually, i can't wait to play. you know, it is one of those things that it is like we're not going to let this guy beat us, right? all of us members, republican and democrat are going to go out on this field and show people we are not backing down and we're here to do a job and we care about our fellow citizens and that's really what it's all about. >> well, i hope that it all motivates into your hands on the bat and your hand in the glove and you play the best you ever have. there will be no losers on that field tonight and i hope you raise more money than ever. >> well said, chris. >> thank you for your service to the country. thank you for your service to congressman steve scalise. you are welcome here on "new day". >> all right. well, this morning president trump is slamming the investigation into collusion between his campaign and russia. this after the russian post

reported robert mueller is investigating the president for possible obstruction of justice. live at the white house with all of the latest. what have you learned? >> reporter: good morning. what we know is that the president has been frustrated and continues to be frustrated about these investigations and is clearly not happy with this latest report out of the washington post. he took to twitter early this morning before 7:00 tweeting they made up a phony collusion with the russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. nice. that tweet i should mention is very much in line with republican national committee talking points. and just a few minutes ago he tweeted again saying, you are witnessing the single greatest witch hunt in american political history led by some very bad and conflicted people, #makeamericagreatagain. bottom line here is this is not

the best birthday for president trump. this is exactly the sort of headline, the headline bob mueller is now looking into possible obstruction of justice by the president. this is the kind of story line he's been trying so much to avoid. you remember it was last week that president trump and his legal team were saying he had been completely and totally vindicated pointing to jim comey's testimony that he had told the president on three separate occasions that he himself was not personally under investigation. this latest report by the post shows that has all changed. this is a very big deal. and i should mention that special counsel mueller is set to meet soon with top intelligence chiefs and in addition to meeting with those chiefs he met yesterday with the chair and vice chair of the senate intelligence committee to talk about these investigations. >> thank you very much for all of that reporting. let's bring in our panel. we have david chal on, jackie

cue sin niche. david, so, again, the president's tweets this morning were not the unity that some perhaps on capitol hill were hoping for in terms of a message. but you get it. president trump doesn't like this investigation. and he has pressed people time and again to say that he is not under investigation, that he is not the target of this investigation. he mentioned this as we all recall on nbc with lester holt. let's play a moment of that. >> i know that i'm not under investigation, me personally. i'm not talking about campaigns. i'm not talking about anything else. i'm not under investigation. >> okay. now, the irony of course, david, is that this morning something has shifted and possibly by exerting as much pressure as he has to officials to ensure that he's not under investigation, now the washington post says bob mueller may be investigating him. >> right. i mean, the moment he fired jim

comey, this development, which is huge, but it's as inevitable as it is huge that indeed this investigation would be opened. so now we have the president of the united states under investigation. and it begs the question to your point, he spends so much time over the course of the last several months both privately with players and publically as a pr strategy to constantly stress he's not under investigation. of course he is now under investigation. so what did that get him? that constant pushback on this notion that he wasn't under investigation for collusion. it drove him so mad about this that he now is indeed under investigation for possible obstruction of justice. >> paul two questions for you. the first one is are you surprised that mueller would be looking at possible obstruction under the facts as we understand them? >> no, i'm not at all surprised about that because, you know, if obstruction of justice is a cliff, the president walked over to the precipice of that cliff

when he fired director comey. it looks suspicious. it looked like why would you demand the guy's loyalty and then when he didn't, you know, publically say you were not under investigation, you fire him, even though previously you had no problem with him. it looks bad. so i'm not surprised that mueller would be taking a look at this as part of his greater investigation. >> well, not just -- >> nothing surprising to me here. >> ken star just said that this does not meet the legal threshold. there's been no evidence he has seen presented that would meet the legal threshold of obstruction of justice because even the president saying to james comey i hope that you can let the michael flynn going go he says is open to interpretation. it is a suggestion. that is not obstruction of justice. >> well, i would agree with ken star in that if there is an obstruction case here, it is an extremely weak case. it is not the kind of case that could be won in a criminal

prosecution. by the way, you can't prosecute the president criminally while he's a sitting president. you can only impeach. >> ken star prefaced this statement by saying it is too early to tell. >> of what he's seen thus far. >> that's the point. he doesn't know. that's good guidance for everybody. and it takes me to my second question, which is the president isn't saying i didn't obstruct justice. he isn't saying i don't like this investigation. he goes much farther. he says it's all phony. it's made up. he talks about they. he denigrates the investigation. he denigrates the people involved by calling it a witch hunt and saying led by some bad people, bad and conflicted. is that the right way to respond? in terms of respecting the process, even if you don't agree with it? >> it is a ridiculous way to respond and it is going to get him into trouble because -- and he's done this before with his personal attacks on the judiciary who were deciding his travel ban case. and guess what?

the courts threw the travel ban out. now he's going after the investigators and accusing them of being somehow corrupt or improper in the way they're handling the investigation. you are going to make these people angry, and it is just not a good tactic. i think in the end if he just backs off and lets mueller complete his investigation, it probably won't go anywhere. he's got a good chance. what are the chances that a democratic -- that a republican congress is going to vote to impeach the president of the united states, a republican president? >> nil. >> it is like zero, okay? so that's where this obstruction case is ultimately going. so the president should go back to doing his work and forget about mueller. >> okay. so jackie, all of this is set against the backdrop of the tragedy that happened yesterday and the calls on capitol hill for unity, from republicans and from democrats. everybody redoubling their efforts to see each other as human beings and to all sort of be for one.

so what will they do? what will lawmakers do? what will congress do? other than these nice words that are heartening, what action are they talking about? what happens next? >> well, they have been talking about reducing the rhetoric and how they treat each other and i imagine they just start ignoring the president because his tweets this morning show that he's not going to do that. he is referring to bad and conflicted people and, so, i think, you know, as much -- this sort of thing is going to pull his party further away from him because they're not in this head space right now. they are thinking about their college who was shot yesterday. and, you know, the more that the president starts to stew in his own anger over something like this, the white house says they want to move on. they say they want to move on with their agenda and they want to deal with tax reform, health care. the president himself isn't allowing them to move on because

he is so fixated on this russia investigation. and that's going to isolate him and the white house down the line. >> i mean, look, we got two important time markers here. we're right at about 24 hours since we learned and started covering the shooting here, david. and i think we're at the two-year mark of when donald trump got into the game to be president. >> tomorrow, right? he road down the escalator -- >> we have this confluence of moment tus events. there is no question that people on the right were trying to play what happened yesterday to political advantage and blaming the left. but the president to come out of the box with these two tweets this morning after calling for unity last night, how is that a consistent message? >> it is not. although, in the president's mind he's being consistent on

his push back of the russia investigation. i thought the president struck precisely the right notes yesterday when he addressed the country in the aftermath of this. it is an important reminder that everyone in this town comes to service through a love of country. but we shouldn't fool ourselves to thinking that this one terrible incident is going to undo what has been, you know, a couple decades worth now of a real political discourse. i agree it is a moment to take stock, but i think that we are fooling ourselves if we think that all of a sudden there is going to be a couple buy yeah sense. >> he called it a witch hunt again. he called the people doing it bad. he denigrated an institution again. this is the top lawmaker. this is the top of the food chain, president of the united states. >> i get it. and you can argue that the tone

is set at the top. but we'll see today. we'll see today what the lawmakers say as they head into this unified baseball game that they are playing. >> tonight should be special. we do hope they raise more money than ever. you can google congressional baseball game and figure out how to donate the money. it goes to needy kids. some republicans are blaming anti-trump rhetoric for yesterday's attack on republicans at a virginia ball field. we will speak to one of those republicans. why he casts blame the way he does and what he thinks the solution is next. award winning interface. award winning design. award winning engine. the volvo xc90. the most awarded luxury suv of the century. visit your volvo dealer to take advantage of our midsommar sales event offer.

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>> why did it happen? crazed gunman, somebody with irrational political fervor or just a dark heart? well, there are other reasons being offered as well. some lawmakers are saying because politics is too nasty, specifically the democrats are too nasty, and that's why the republicans were targeted. joining us now is republican congressman who is making exactly that case, chris collins of new york. friend of show. good to have you on, congressman. an important discussion to have today. >> it is good, chris. and i will admit that early yesterday right after i got the news about five minutes after 8:00, my good friend steve scalise was gravely wounded and our thoughts and prayers remain with he and his family as we go through today.

i think in that emotion i did lash out and, you know, it would certainly appear this individual, the anger was certainly tied into the rhetoric going on and so i did say what i said, that i was putting the blame on the democrats' doorstep. and then after, you know, the emotion of that instance wore off, you know, an hour or two later, i looked in the mirror and i said that's not the right tone. i am going to do what i can to help reverse this, the anger to end the discourse. so i release add statement that subsequently said i'm willing to admit that was wrong for me to say. that would actually be going in the wrong direction and i myself am going to try to tone down some of my rhetoric and i would invite my democrat friends, and they are friends, to do likewise. and we certainly talked about that yesterday at 11:00 in our joint conference with the republicans and democrats. and i think all of us have now had a chance to reflect, look in the mirror and say, you know,

it's on all of us and it is a 24-7 news cycle and elections are coming up next year and it's been an especially ugly six months and i think some of us reacted to the threats that continue to come into our office. you know, the organized tie ins in our office and i hope some of that, that they just go away. that's just not appropriate. >> well, first of all, i applaud you for thinkig better of what you said. i am not here to hang you with your own words. but it does raise the issue of plenty of blame being there to go around. in terms of hot talk, i think it would be wrong, as it was after gab gabby gifford or any time to put it on partisan effort. you have to be of diseased mind or black heart to do what this man did yesterday. >> yes. >> and i don't think it is right to put it anybody who is making a political argument. we all make choices about how he conduct ourselves.

he made his choice. it was the wrong choice and it cost him his life and nobody is going to argue with that. >> we don't know what the trigger was. this was a troubled individual. angered. we don't know what ultimately the trigger was. >> but it goes to something else, which is it is nasty. people just don't disagree now. they try to dismantle their opponents and frankly it goes all the way to the top. i don't think it is a coincidence and i think it needs to be called out that literally 24 hours after this shooting and all these beautiful messages of unity from both sides, the president is back at it this morning, not just saying i did nothing wrong, not just saying i don't like this investigation, which he's fully within his rights to say. he's denigrating the institution. he's denigrating the people who are doing the investigating, congressmen, and i don't understand how that breeds unity. >> well, i actually agree with you here, chris. i think timing could have been better on that. and i can't speak for the

president. obviously, he does what he does. clearly he's frustrated by the investigation and the investigation is going to run its course probably for many, many months. i would say it is time to move on. you know, you can be frustrated, but you can't let that consume you either. you know, again, i'm not counseling the president. but i would have certainly not advised that that tweet go out today because we're still, you know, very much reacting to yesterday's shooting and -- but it is what it is and again i don't speak for the president on that. >> well, and again and i applaud that as well. you know he watches the show and hopefully he'll hear your words and they will mean something to him. you also said yesterday, you know what, i'm worried about this. i'm worried about these threats. i am going to have my gun on me. you are a registered gun owner. you have your permit. is that still the answer for you? >> yes, it is. i've had a carry permit for 30 years and i would say off and on, chris, in different

instances where i have, you know, felt it was appropriate, i would carry the weapon on myself. i certainly have it in the car. but i think today, you know, there is copy cats out there. there is people who will react. >> sure. >> and, so, certainly in the short term i'm going to go a step beyond just having it in the glove box in my car and i will be carrying. i don't want to blow that out of any kind of proportion because it is not what it is intended for. >> but there is an interesting legal question just as a friend of yours who wants to see you be okay. you can't walk into the place where you work with that gun on you because of the federal law against carrying in that space. do you think it needs to be brought up as legislation? do you think this event means that much to you that it's something you might introduce. >> some of us have talked about that here in d.c. we're certainly safe when we're within the capitol compound, if you want to call it that. but we also are out and about

and we don't have any protection. i would always say that a law-abiding citizen trained with the use of a firearm that's carrying will keep themselves and others around them safe. we don't necessarily need legislation. there could be an instance where we should be sworn in as peace officers, which would allow us to carry, especially if we have a carry permit at home, but even possibly without that. so there is a method by which that could be allowed. some of us are talking about it. i would think it is appropriate if somebody wanted to do that. that's really a discussion, you know, as we move forward. it is something we're talking about. >> well, let us know. let us know where that goes and i hope you felt safe enough on the show this morning to not be carrying a firearm with you. >> i am not carrying in d.c. >> that's right. that's another municipality you have to be careful about. be well. god bless. >> lawmakers are coming together after the ambush in virginia.

a democrat embracing his republican colleague, nearly moving both of them to tears. so we speak with both of them next. you don't let anything

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after the ball field attack, republicans and democrats in congress vowing to come together. two men showing the rest of us how it's done are our next two guests. the pitcher on the republican team, but he was not there during the ambush. still he was very rattled and he was comforted by a hug from congressman tim ryan, a democrat. and both congressmen join us now. gentlemen, thanks so much for being here. >> great to be with you. >> congressman, how are you feeling now 24 hours later? >> i think all of my colleagues, we met yesterday as a team about 5:00. first time it was just the players and it was a little bit more heavy than i thought it would be. i think the adrenaline is wearing off and people are dealing with the individual realities of their experience. there is many who are asking themselves, you know, hey, why

am i the guy today that's walking around? >> yeah. that's a completely natural feeling, that so-called survivor's guilt where you do a lot of soul searching about that. >> what was it like for you to see your colleagues so upset yesterday? >> well, you know, it kind of cut through all the nonsense we talk about every day and the rhetoric we deal with every single day and it became very, very human. we were at our practice when the capitol police said come on, let's shelter in the dug out. you look around and think what the heck happened in the the republican practice. it's literally a field, a baseball field. so if somebody walked here shooting a gun right now, what in god's name would we do and it just immediately made us realize what our colleagues had gone through. and then not seeing them and then seeing them later in a suit and tie on the house floor, there was nothing left to do but give them a hug because there was nothing you could really say

that could adequately deal with the situation. >> you are normally the pitcher for your team and i know you have strong feelings about this team and the games and what they meant to you. can you share those? >> well, first off, it is an opportunity for us to do something different from what we do in our normal routine, the pressures of the job. you get to know your own members better, people that you may not serve in the same committee. and then you get to know your colleagues from the other side of the aisle. tim and i have a long-standing joke going on about a curve ball i got him on a while ago. this is the kind of thing that gives us something in common. >> can you ever let that go? >> i couldn't figure out how this guy with white hair threw a curveball and struck me out in front of 5,000 people. i still wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it. but we've got another game tonight. >> that's got to hurt. >> yeah, it hurts. >> congressman ryan, what does

it mean when you offering just a human hug to one of your colleagues after this horrible situation makes news? >> well, i think it's sign of the times for sure because, you know, i don't want to -- this isn't exactly breaking news or maybe it is that i like congressman man. i think he's a great guy. there is a lot of other republicans here who i like. i have republican friends. we may disagree on issues, but that doesn't mean we can't play baseball together, go to church together, have a beer together. these things are all pretty normal and there is a lot of republicans in the house of representatives that i like. and i will -- we're both irish, too, so i think we're okay having a little dust up over an issue and then figuring out how to resolve it and go out and play some baseball together. i mean, to me, that's how i grew up with republicans in my family, republicans in my neighborhood, my friends, my colleagues, people i went to school with, my teachers.

and i know pat feels the same way that, you know, that's okay. and i think that's what we really got to get to in america. it's like it is okay for someone to have a different opinion than you and you can respect them for thinking differently than you and then come to this democracy, this congress, the state legislature, the city council, the school board and figure out how to come to some sort of reconciliation on the issue. so when a hug makes news, it is a sign of the times. >> congressman, i know you said yesterday we can't let the haters win. amen to that. how do you stop the haters from winning? >> well, i think tim hit on it. we start by setting an example that we can compete. we can compete with our ideas. we can compete on a field. but apart from that we can respect each other. while we joke around about this, some of the rhetoric that's taking place out there and the political environment is just too vitriolic and this is an example where we sort of give

everybody a chance to step back and say, wait a second. maybe there is a better way for us to do this. >> congressman, thank you very much for all of those words. they are heartening for people to hear. i won't force you to do an awkward bro hug here on the air. >> hug it out, guys. hug it out. hug it out before the big game. there you go. >> but later, i'm not hugging anybody. once i step over that chalk line. >> not that he's hanging on to everything. >> gentlemen, we look very forward to watching the game tonight. thanks so much for being here and we should let our viewers know, congressman ryan wrote a topic on this very topic. you can read more there. >> they should all be pro hug all the time. all right. other news for you this morning. haiti is still trying to recover after hundreds of thousands of lives were lost in a massive earthquake in 2010. do you remember this? one man is going above and beyond to help. and he is dr. sanjay gupta's

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>> so this week cnn is running a special series, champions for change. got a dozen cnn and hln anchoring sharing the causes that are closest to their hearts. today chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta is going to tell us a story where he introduces us to the founder of partners in health and the group's unrelenting dedication to help people in haiti, a place you noel, especially in crisis. >> as soon as this idea for the series came up, it was the first thing that came to my mind because i have always wonders, certainly after the earthquake, how was this place going to

recover. and, you know, so many people stepped up to try to do something about haiti. can individuals really make a difference here? that's what i wanted to find out and specifically focus on this guy paul farmer. he founded this organization partners in health and done remarkable work down there. >> let's take a look. >> there is a saying. beyond mountains there are mountains. as soon as you overcome one obstacle, there is another and then another. haiti, our neighbor, is poorest country in the northern hem spear. and then a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hits. within an instant hundreds of thousands dead. hundreds of thousands more injured. sudden and utter human destruction. almost unimaginable.

my chest still tightens just thinking about haiti. it was day five, kimberly 12 years old, a piece of scrap nell in her brain. the u.s. navy asked me to fly out to the u.s. u.s. karl vincent to operate. she lost her family, lost her life as she knew it. even survival here seemed a living hell. i kept thinking this is a place that will never recover, a place forgotten. >> it comes back to how much we really care. >> it's a reflection. the absence of money is a reflection of differential evaluation of human life. >> for seven years now, the question i kept asking, can someone, anyone really make a difference in a place like this? my bet is on this guy, champion for change paul farmer and the organization he founded, partners in health. they have been in haiti for 30 years now, and they were there january 2010. the images of the ten cities

have given way to the park we're sitting in today. >> how is haiti doing? how is this area doing seven years later? >> there's been patchy improvement. some places rubble is all cleared. some houses are rebuilt. there have been all those other problems since then. more floods, hurricane matthew. so it's a mixed bag. >> when you were pretty young, you decided to come here and to do work. what was motivating you at that time to come here? >> you know, motivations are difficult to desiredecipher, bu think it was the desire to help people. >> with that i realize paul farmer, an infectious disease doctor from harvard makes the case that one man, one organization can make a difference, even in a place like this. >> when we were here in 2010 and

former president clinton came down at that time, one of the things i remember him saying to me was, you know, sometimes something good can come from something bad. is it true? >> the university hospital came out of something bad. it came out of the earthquake. it's 300 beds. it's the largest solar powered hospital in the developing world. it has six operating rooms. it has 2,000 patients a day. >> a phoenix is a bird continually reborn from its ashes, just like this. university hospital, the crown jewel in partner haiti's portfolio. a world class hospital in the middle of nowhere. >> did you ever imagine a place like this could exist? >> no. >> the chief nursing officer here at the hospital. >> you lived in new york. you lived in michigan. you lived in florida. how does this hospital stack up to what you have seen over there? >> i think it is equivalent to what i've seen. >> that's an amazing statement. there is a lot of people that

say that shouldn't have ever been hospital. >> i love it. i love when people say that because there is one thing i would tell me staff is there is a radical and ridiculous. when it happens, it's radical. >> so you go from ridiculous to radical to real. >> to real, yeah, absolutely. to real. >> it gives you an idea of how busy things can get here in the middle of haiti. a three year old boy was in a motorcycle accident. he has a fracture in his skull. that's going to need surgery and also over here a 61 year old man with a large hemorrhage in his brain is also going to need surgery. both those operations need to happen within the next hour or so. >> before this hospital was built, he would have surely died out here in the countryside. 63 is the average life expectancy here. he's 61. instead, today, i'm getting ready to operate on him. >> this is the line here. >> brain surgery. in the poorest area of the poorest country in this hem fear

of the world. >> i thought no way this person was going to make it and they do. that's something good that came out of something bad. >> it's the house that paul farmer helped build. at one time even his supporters thought what you are witnessing is not possible, asking how can this possibly be done? >> that's a philosophical question, right? i didn't spend a lot of time on it because i knew the answer was of course. the real question to ask is how do we do it. if they have been saying can we do this, you know, at nasa, there would have never been someone on the moon. the more we ask how and the less we ask can we do it, the safer we are as a species. >> and the more likely we are to travel mountains beyond mountains. the title of the book profiling dr. paul farmer and his guest to

cure the world. >> and as proof it was the right thing to do, please observe a rainbow just appeared over your left shoulder, clearly a sign from god. >> somebody is listening. >> i always said that to you. from harvard to haiti to heaven. >> how do you assess need in a place like that? i remember i was on the ground when you guys were in the immediate aftermath. but that's the moment in crisis. there was need before and then there is new need after. >> no question. this is a country that even before the earthquake only 50% had access to clean water. infrastructure was crumbling. even basic diseases could not be prevented. in the long-term after, building up that infrastructure is still challenging. it is interesting for us as journalists that we're often the first people on the ground. i didn't realize how quickly until i became a journalist myself you think medical teams,

military, whoever. journalists are often the first and you go into there and, you know, hundreds of thousands of people either injured or have died and obviously for the injured, you know, i think it's a pretty easy choice. there is obvious need and we're there and regardless of whether you are a doctor or not, anybody can help in those situations. so i think it becomes very obvious in terms of filling the need. >> what a story. thank you so much for sharing it with us. so cnn and hln anchors will be bringing you their causes all week. you can go to cnn.com/championsforchange. >> all right. congressman steve scalise, the house gop whip is in critical condition this morning. he is still in a fight after a gunman ambushed him and other republicans practicing for a charity baseball game. that game is tonight and it is still going on. now, one of those who was shot there in addition to his congressional staffer, zach

barth has been released from the hospital and there he is next to the man he serves in service to their constituents. joining us now. gentlemen, how are we doing this morning? >> well, i think we're doing good. i'm so glad zach is with me. we went through quite a day yesterday and we're praying for congressman steve scalise and all the others, but it is a good morning, much better than yesterday's morning. >> the big difference 24 hours can make. thank god you both made it through. zach, tell us about the wound and how you got out so fast, how you are doing now. >> sure. i'm doing fine now. so what happened was i was in center field shagging fly balls. heard a loud crack and everybody stopped. i saw the shooter with a long gun at the third baseline

somebody yelled run. so that's what i did. i ran as far, put as much distance between me and him as i could. sprinted to right field. there was nowhere for me to go, no gate or nothing like that so i made myself the smallest target possible, laid on the ground and then i saw him turn his gun towards me. he started firing. everything around me started to pop. felt a sharp burning pain in my leg. looked down. i had been hit. and at that point, adrenaline was pumping through me and my fight or flight reflections took over. i decided if i wanted to live, i needed to get better cover. so i sprinted down, ran for my life and jumped into the dug out into congressman williams arms and from there, you know, i was injured but the more important thing was staying alive, keeping my head down, keeping everybody else's head down and thank the lord for, you know, officers bailey and griener. without them i might not be

talking to y'all. >> thank the lord, inledeed. bailey got hit as well, continued to pursue the shooter. who knows what would have happened if you didn't have them there to defend. but like you say, thank god they were and that contributed to everybody making it out of there. when you got to the dug out, you ran, even though you had a bullet in your calf. that's impressive. that's where congressman brooks was, right? and didn't he help you guys with a belt and a tourniquet, right? do you remember that? >> what happened was i was hitting ground balls to steve scalise. as soon as i hit it we heard the first pop and my instincts said i got to get to the real dug out. i dove head first into the concrete to get out of the way and i got there with congressman -- or senator flake and congressman brooks and we were all there together. and then out of nowhere came zach. he jumped right into the dug out. he says i'm hit. he happened to jump into my

arms. we held each other. mow brooks took his belt off, gave it to senator flake and i to help zach put a -- stop the bleeding on his leg and we just all stayed there, laid down as low as we could, prayed and were so thankful again for the capitol police. they saved everyone's life. if they were not there, it would have been a massacre. also in that dug out there were generations in that dug out. there were older guys like me. we had ten-year-old jack barton in that dug out. we had zach. we were all in there together. we were all bonding, protecting each other and it was -- it was quite a thing to be involved in. but we're so glad everybody came out safe and we're praying for congressman steve scalise. >> it gives you chills still now hearing what you guys made it through. i had no idea that there was a ten-year-old in there as well. and you're right to speak about

it in terms of generations. what were you saying to each other in there? i know it had to seem like an eternity and prayer always helps, but what were you telling each other, congressman? >> we were telling everybody to keep your head down and one concern we had is in our mind we didn't hear any of the capitol police firing back at the beginning. all we heard is the shooter. 60 rounds i'm told. where i was in the dug out i could look outside and i saw the capitol police standing outside the dug out, totally open, firing back at this guy. and so forth. it made me feel a little better. but he had a rifle. our guys had pistols. we had baseball bats and balls. so mainly, yes, praying, but also telling everybody stay down, stay down. >> zach, i know a lot of people are talking to you about the different levels of recovery. you know, you are young. you are strong. you are able to run after taking a hit in the leg. that's obvious proof of your

physical strength. but this has got to be a hard thing to deal with. how are you doing in terms of your head and heart and proce processing what you made it through? >> it is a tough thing. it was a scary situation, probably scariest thing i have lived through. but, you know, thank the lord for all the prayers and thoughts i received from, you know, not just my community back home in houston, texas but the capitol hill community. we bond together. it doesn't matter if we're republicans or democrats. we're all americans. we might not always agree, but when something like this happens, you know, i kind of echo the sentiments of speaker ryan. an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. to have them lifting me up is such a blessing. >> we heard about those democrats on their field praying when they heard what happened to you guys. we have heard the words and the unity that, you know, is just music to americans' ears right now. it is horrible that this moment had to give birth to it but sometimes you make of a moment what you can.

and congressman, what do you think this moment means? what do you want it to mean? >> well, i want it to heal america. the rhetoric up here is too devicive. but speaker ryan called myself and congressman barton and congressman dole and said do you want to play the game? we said, yes, we have to play this game because if we don't we let those that want to harm our way of life in this country win. like i said, america never gives in. america never gives out. we will punch back tonight. we hope to have 50,000 people in that stadium tonight watching this baseball game and it all goes to charity. hopefully raise over a million dollars. so this is a night we have to play this baseball game in america. i'm glad, i know zach is, to be a part of this. >> on a very big night for this country to show its resolve and its unity. they