i just cannot see how people shoot people, or kill people, somebody thats is i never met. he drove a fair distance when he started shooting, he was shooting to kill people. and think god he was not a very good shot and thank god we had security officers on saying that shot back and deflected him from shooting the members. had he been able to get inside , there were 15 to 20 members of staff that relying lying on the ground. they were not targets so long as he was outside the fence.

but had he gotten inside the fence, it would have been a bloodbath. thank y'all. the game is tomorrow at 7:05. >> washington hospital has provided an update on the congressman's condition. he sustained a single rifle shot to his left hip, causing severe bleeding. surgery andone futur remains in critical condition. the congressman will require additional operations. another witness to the shooting, congressman roger williams, held

a news conference. a member of his staff was among the shooting victims and congressman williams suffered minor injuries when diving to avoid the shooter. >> thank you all very much. my name is roger williams. ofepresent the 25th district

texas and the united states congress and i coach the republican congressional baseball team. this morning, as you know, we were attacked by a gunman at our press conference. those who will what is wrong with america, but in this case, the officers, we sell is right with america. we saw two people risk their lives to save the lives of others, we saw courage in the face of death and some examples of what all americans should be grateful everyday for law enforcement officers around this country. there could have easily been 25 deaths or more today. had 25 team players and about 15 staff. reiner and bailey

prevented that and my family and i will be forever grateful. the thin blue line held today. law enforcement officers everywhere should be proud. and americans everywhere should be thankful that this is still the kind of country that produces these kinds of heroes. i ask everybody to join me in praying for the victims and their full recoveries before you go to bed tonight. i would be happy to take some questions. i will briefly tell you my story. third-base side, feeding ground balls to trent kelly. thele did i know that perpetrator was probably 20 yards from me. i went around the first base

side to fit congressman scalise ground balls. i did that. the first one i hit him, the shots went off. i heard the first shot. i thought maybe it was a backfiring car. and then p yield, he has got a gun, -- and then people yelled, he is got a gun, run for cover. that is what i did. basely i was on the first side and emotions took over. i read to the first-base dugout, which is in the ground about seven feet and i literally dove , like divingout into a swimming pool with no water. but i did and in there were some of my other colleagues. barth, who works for me, was shot while retrieving balls and outfield. when i got into the dugout, it

wasn't 10 seconds, and zach came running in from the outfield and we landed in each other's arms. he held me. i held him. jeff flake took his belt off and made a tourniquet around zach's leg to stop the bleeding. know, i remember, chuck was on the phone to 911, screaming to hurry up and get here. on, was inn, joe's s the dugout with us and we were all taking care of him, just trying to take care of each other. there were a lot of heroes today among my friends. it is something i will not forget. it seemed like it went forever. the police say they got there in

three or four minutes, and i'm sure that is the case, but it was a long time. they say there were 60 shots fired. but without our capitol police, who took a step forward when they did not have to, they saved all of us out there. there is no question about it. we had no arms. all we had was bats, and the shooter. scalise, theng for mica, and my young man that works for us in our office zach, who will be fine. with that, i will be glad to take some questions, if you have any. yes ma'am? >> have you talked to him? >> i have not, but i understand

from the reports that he is doing well. he is out of surgery. i'm not a doctor, but all reports are that he will make a full recovery. >> were you the other congressman? into thes when i dove and alexandria took really good care of me. nurses andhank the doctors. i will be going to texas after the game tomorrow to let my doctors see what they need to do as far as my ankle and leg and feet. but that is the injury i have, it is an ankle-leg injury. they have got me going to where okan move around an dbd be tomorrow at the game and then i go home tomorrow night to get fixed. but everybody did what they

needed to do. a lot of brave people in the united states congress. >> can you elaborate on your staffer's condition? >> he has been released from the hospital. he was shot in the leg. he was in the outfield. i give him credit. i think zach is probably 23 or 24. all the time he was bleeding and we were under fire, he was texting, letting people know we were under fire and that we needed help. so, he's doing great. vice president pence has spoken to him. i'm grateful for that, for his talking to zach. so, he's on the road to recovery. yes ma'am? congressman, i know the game is still set to be on, but what

about the caucus? >> some of us are still only injured list. i think we were supposed to have breakfast tomorrow, but i believe that has been canceled. i believe what we will have is a prayer service or something, and then play baseball. if you're not sure which one i will be, i will be the one coaching third on crutches. but yeah, we are going to play. we need to play. this is a game that has been going on for over 100 years. it goes to charity and we need to play this baseball game. i'm excited that we decided to do that. i talked to the speaker about it and told him i felt we should play. i know he spoke with congressman doyle and congressman barton. we all agree we need to play baseball. important to get out there and play tomorrow? important because

these people that want to destroy our lives and livelihood in america, they win if we give in. america does not give out, america does not give in. and we must play this baseball game. if we go home, then they win. so, that is the reason. , the greatesta country in the world. if you punch us, we will punch back. we will punch back. we're going to play baseball tomorrow. bishop described the situation as "we were sitting ducks." can you comment on that as far as what you were feeling that? mr. williams: took the second shot. we are sitting ducks. we were sitting ducks. we had nothing to fight back with but bats, if it got to that. we were sitting ducks. he was unable to get on the field because the gate was

locked on the other side. the field,otten on it could have been a bad situation. but he was unable to do that. but we were sitting ducks. i mean, you have got 40 people on a baseball field at 7:00 in just decidednd he to shoot. so bishop was right when he said that. it was a good way to say it. in the back. reporter: i have two questions. are you sure whether scalise was hit with the first bullet that was shot? it seems like anybody could've been struck with that bullet, maybe your staffer. and you were pretty emotional talking about officers and i wonder if you had a chance to thank them. mr. williams: i will personally thank them.

i'm thanking them again right here. they saved everybody's life. they did that. theyresent fort hood, and teach our military to take a step forward, not a step back when you are in combat. it is emotional. it is an emotional day. when you think back to your family and your friends you think about being in that position, it is emotional. reporter: the first shot -- heard,liams: i i have that the fair shot we heard was at trent kelly, who is at third base. and then trent ran. i don't know which bullet got who. title which bullet got zach or steve. yes ma'am. how do you feel about

your personal security after what happened today? and what should change around members' personal security? mr. williams: i frankly have not thought about it. i know there is a lot of conversation about whether we should have security as individual congresspeople. job, people are very aware of you and where you are. i think we need to think about it. although, i think speaker gingrich put it well today when he said one of the great things of an elected government is that you can talk to your elected officials. some did not vote for us and some did, but we represent all of them and it is a slice of america and people need to be able to talk to us. we want to be able to keep where we have open government. but i will tell you. i will be frank with you. here i am a congressman, and every now and then you would

like to have a friend on one side of you. but i have not decided that. i believe in open government and i think speaker gingrich put it well today. yes ma'am? reporter: are you concerned that the current political climate is encouraging violence, and if so, what do you think america should do about it? mr. williams: i don't know if i want to talk about that today. i don't know, this person evidently had an issue. i don't think it was a democratic or republican issue. he just had an issue. nobody condones this. i do think candidly that our rhetoric in this country could be turned down a little bit, the town could be turned down a little bit, but that is what we have to work on. and we have to continue to talk about it. yes ma'am? reporter: do you think security plans for the game tomorrow will be altered? will there be an increased amount of officers?

mr. williams: i don't know what the plan was to begin with, but i would think -- i am hoping, since it's a charity, we will have more people than we would have had. we normally have 25,000 people at this game. that stadium holds 50,000. maybe we will have 50,000 there tomorrow. but i'm not worried about that, because we have the best security people. and they are going to do the right thing. everybody, not just the congresspeople, but everybody will be protected to the extent they need to be. i don't worry about that. i hope we have a lot more people at the game. reporter: can you tell us about how mica is doing? mr. williams: he is a lovely man, a friend of all of ours. area. shot in the torso so, i've heard, just through his family, that his condition is

improving and everybody is praying for mica. reporter: mr. williams, back to the security situation. do you think in this particular instance, anything could've been done differently? let me ask you this, because i have heard other members say this. would you feel safer if you had the ability to carry a gun? mr. williams: first of all, i'm for the second amendment. secondly, i'm from texas. yes, i would have felt more comfortable if we were able to do that. what was the other? reporter: on the security situation. ofle recognizing the heroism the officers, do you think more could have been done? mr. williams: in retrospect, and

i thought about this this morning. if you have 25 congressman in a very small group and you want to harm somebody, that is a pretty good way to do it. thenot so sure that in future at least, if we had this situation again, and this is me talking, that we probably should take a look at our security when we have big groups like that. i think that might be important. but look, we have been playing this game -- i have been in it for six years, i guess. we practice every morning from 6:00 to 8:00. we have fun, no problems. and i thought the story that jeff duncan told, which i am sure you all heard already, was very interesting. having this fellow come up to him and he said, are those democrats or republicans. he said, republicans.

and then he began shooting. i do think that should be addressed by law enforcement, if we are going to a big group of elected officials, had we want to handle it from a security standpoint. thank you very much and god bless you. thanks. >> c-span's "washington

journal," live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. thursday morning, pennsylvania republican congressman scott perry on the shooting of scalise.an steve and then jamie raskin on security for members of congress. watch c-span's "washington journal," live at 7:00 a.m. eastern thursday morning. join the discussion. >> this weekend, c-span's cities tour takes book tv and american history tv to hyde park, new york, as we explore the history and literary life of a town that has become synonymous with the story of frank roosevelt, eleanor roosevelt, and the extended roosevelt family. saturday at noon eastern on book tv, exclusive interview with the

grandson of fdr and eleanor, as he talks about his memoir from his time on the roosevelt's hyde park estate. >> it was not until my grandmother's funeral that i realized she was really a special person, and something of a celebrity. we never thought of her in that way. we never viewed my grandmother. she was only a grandmother to was. and that is all she ever wanted to be. >> and then the book "fdr and the post office." >> i found four letters in the archive in his hand writing, not typed, that credited stamp collecting with saving his life after he became ill and ended up being confined to a wheelchair. >> on sunday at 2:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv

we tour the fdr presidential library, the first in the presidential archive system. >> the library was established by president franklin roosevelt. he was looking for a way to preserve the papers of his administration, and his personal papers. so, he created a library on the grounds of his estate in hyde park, new york. what he decided to do was to raise private money to build the library, and then he gave it to the government to be operated by the national archive. >> watch the cities tour of hyde park, new york on saturday at noon eastern on book tv and ,unday on american history tv working with our cable affiliates and visiting cities across the country. >> this morning a republican congressional baseball team held a practice