comrade. and our thoughts are with them, too, obviously, and to our colleague, steve scalise, hopefully he'll be able to watch the game on television if c-span's televising it. and we're thinking of him, too. you know, shouldn't take an incident like this to bring us together. i know in times of tragedy, we have -- americans do that, but joe and i have been reflecting a lot lately just on how we can still maintain our principles and our legislative agendas, but we could do it in a more civil way. and when the leadership of this country is civil toward one another, maybe the public will start being civil toward one another, too. and the news media will be civil toward members of congress and the public. and we can change the mood in this country so that people don't get filled up with this kind of hatred. but tonight we want to be together. i just suggested to joe that we

would like to host the entire republican team down at the democratic club. probably some of them have never stepped foot in that building. >> i've been in it one time. >> we want to have them dinner. we're going to have both teams together and have the time to be with each other and reflect upon this day. and share some food and drink aet get to know each other a little bit better. so, joe, i'm hoping that your guys, most of them, their schedules will allow them to attend and we look forward to the baseball game tomorrow and continuing this great tradition. >> i'm going to bring my food taster, but we will be there. we'll take a few questions. yes, ma'am. >> have you discussed any additional security measures for the game tomorrow and in light of what happened? >> i checked both with the speaker's office and i checked with the chief of the capitol hill police and they both

assured us that, plus my staff has checked with the national security personnel department. it's going to be a very secure facility. it's designed to be secure and we've all been assured that it will be a very safe facility tomorrow evening. >> just to follow up quickly as well, the fbi has told us that there was a second congressman who was transported to a hospital with an injury this morning. >> congressman roger williams is my coach and he, in trying to protect some of the players and my son -- my son and i scrambled into the dugout, he sprained his ankle and he has had medical attention. we don't think it's broken. he was not shot, though. he injured himself in trying to protect some other people. >> as far as, more on the

security here, representative scalise's capitol police detail were not, rather, if he wasn't there, they wouldn't have been there. going forward, as far as large groups of members doing events like this, is there -- is this being rethought as to how much security really should be -- >> there was, i believe, another security detail there from the capitol hill police simply because there were a lot of congressmen there, and they did assist in attacking the shooter, but as mike has pointed out, there would have only been one officer, maybe two, had not congressman scalise been the majority whip. so that is something that we are rethinking. >> and they're generally not on the field. they're -- at our practice, we have no security detail on the field. there was a capitol police car in the parking lot with one officer. about 500 yards away.

by the time he even figured out what the commotion was all about and called for backup -- >> our officers were not on the field, but they were outside the vehicle. they were out by the bleachers outside the field. and the shooter was outside -- he never -- the shooter never got into the field. he was over on the third base side and luckily for us all of our people always stay on the first base side and the gates on the third base side were locked and so he had to try to go around behind home plate and the capitol hill police and mr. scalise's police and eventually fairly quickly the alexandria police all kind of converged on him and prevented him from getting onto the field. >> seeing you both up here, can you talk about in light of this morning's events the spirit of bipartisanship on the hill? and also you've touched on this a bit, the game is normally very

competitive. can you comment on how the spirit of competition might change at this point? >> i don't think the spirit of competition will change. i mean, competition's a good thing. we're mostly competitive people or we wouldn't have made it down here, anyway. so we don't mind that part about it. the sportsmanship has always been good at our games. joe will tell you, after those games are over, we get together for the awarding of the trophies and joe has been extremely gracious. the seven years in a row i've beaten -- >> i knew that would come up. >> and i was extremely glas lly when he beat me last year. no, that's never been a problem, joe, in all the years i've been associated with the game for 23 years. so, i don't think that part will change. >> we're intense on the field. i haven't played the game in a long time. when i did, i was the pitcher for our team and i did brush back some of my democrat friends and they brushed me back.

>> but he couldn't throw hard enough to hurt us, so it wasn't that bad. >> i certainly couldn't today. i don't believe i could hit it to home plate today without bouncing it. but, you know, as mike pointed out, hopefully this will -- you know, you can be intensely political without being personal. >> yeah. >> and a lot of the traditions of the house are designed to defuse personal animosity. the gentleman from pennsylvania, my good friend from texas, you can't make personal derogatory comments about another member on the floor. so the rules are designed to kind of defuse that and, of course, mike and i serve on the same committee, the energy and commerce committee, and so we have a bond beyond just managers of the baseball teams. but it is something with the we probably need to meet at the leadership level and at the regular member level and try to

address because what happened this morning was unconscionable except that it was there. you could see the shooter ducking out and shooting. primarily by the time i saw him, at the policemen. and he was doing it simply because apparently he didn't like the political climate. and chose to start shooting at a bunch of congressmen who today happened to be republicans. it's not -- that's not america. yes, ma'am? >> -- different people, staffers, who feel the climate has changed here on capitol hill. this is ha you'what you're talk about, the leadership discussion. members don't know each other well. we've had this for a while now. have you felt that? what changed that? some are raising the idea, i can't believe i'm asking this, maybe this shouldn't be a republicans versus democrats

game. that's an odd question, but i've been hearing it out there. >> i think we ought to continue, both mike and i, you know, requested -- requested, suggested, that the game continue tomorrow. we left it obviously to the speaker and mrs. pelosi and the capitol hill police to make the final decision, but he and i both thought that the game should go on and, again, you can be a liberal, democrat, conservative, republican, somewhere in between and discuss your issues on the floor and not go out in the lobby and get in a fistfight. this gentleman apparently drove 800 miles, now, whether he came with intent, who knows, wheal never kn we'll never know since he passed away, but we need to take a step

ba back and i think at our levels we should be a part -- that's why we're in a joint press conference. >> you think the climate has changed up here as members? >> i think the internet and twitter and instantaneously of the news cycle has made it more personal and members flying back to their districts every few weekend. very few members live up here. it is a different climate today than it was in 1985 w 5 when i t got elected. part of it's technology. and part of it is the way politics have evolved. the attack politics and the 15-second attack ads and things like that. members are not looked at as people anymore. we're kind of looked at as i won't say targets but people think they can come to our town hall meetings and say just the most obnoxious things and we not

feel it personally. i can assure you, every member of congress is a person, he has family, and while we try not to show it, sometimes we do take it personally. >> there's just very few opportunities to interact outside having our suits on. i've watched joe's son, jack, grow up, and have these yearly banter with him about trying to get a secret out of jack, tell me something your dad's doing that i don't know about. jack would always say, i'm not telling you anything, i'm not giving you any information. so when you know somebody's kid, somebody's spouse, play baseball with them, you ski thee them at gym, you talk to them there, it's different. when you see that person on the committee level, i mean, i wouldn't think of being harsh to joe barton no matter what we may disagree about politically because i feel like he's a

family friend. if there's so much pressure on members to get home right after the last vote, you see us all running to national or to, you know, to dulles to get on planes because we're not allowed to stay here because then we've gone washington, we got to be back home in our districts, and the things that used to bring members together, whether it's travel, that's frowned upon. if you belong to the gym, they think, well, that's a perk you shouldn't have. all the chances to interact with each other outside our suits and outside floor debate is few and far between. joe's right, when he and i first got here, there wasn't social media. >> there wasn't the internet. >> you know, now people get information out of a fire hydrant. much of it without a filter. and the level of discourse has become -- it's not -- people don't look at each other eye to eye. they use their two thumbs and

insult one another. and there's -- i just think it's lessened the civility not nusju politics but day-to-day interaction with people that withdrew see outside, too, so it's just a different era we're operating in that is a little bit tougher than one we operated in prior to all these changes. >> when my son, jack, was born, i was chairman of the energy and commerce committee and jack got as many presents from the democrats as he did from the republicans. and he still has some of those. he's grown up. he lives in texas with his mother. we're divorced, but he's grown up in the congress and he comes up every year and when we comes on the floor, he'll touch base

with some of the republicans from texas and then he'll make a beeline to the democrat side to talk to cedric richmond, to mike doyle, and when john dingell was still in congress -- >> yeah. >> -- to john dingell. so he is -- he is an example of bipartisanship in himself, and he was at practice this morning and not only -- he had 25 dads. everybody out there was looking out for him. not just me. >> first thing i thought about when that happened was jack. >> yeah. >> and that he was going to be okay. cedric had his 3-year-old son at our practice. closer to game time, families come to watch the game and they're here and a lo t of them come out to the practices and i don't think any of us ever give thought to our safety when we

were practicing on the baseball field, just didn't occur to us that anything bad could happen. >> especially at 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. >> yeah, we figured most of the bad guys are sleeping. >> anybody else? >> yeah. >> can i just ask you a follow-up on what you were just saying about your personal safety. what do you say to your son or to your wife who's going to look at you now and say, i don't think you're safe at work? do you feel safe? >> i feel safe, but, you know, i'm an adult and i make a conscious decision to run for congress. nobody puts a gun to our head and says we have to run. it's different with your family. your family shouldn't be exposed to that. but it really doesn't matter these days whether you're up here or in texas, in my case, or pennsylvania. we've had people protest at my house in texas. when my family was there. and we've broached this with the speaker. it's something -- everybody has a right under the 1st amendment

of the constitution to address congress for redress of gr grievances and that's why we do a lot of town halls, our constituency can come and talk to us directly face-to-face. your family should not be exposed to that and who would have thought that taking my son or in the case of cedric richmond, his son to a baseball practice, in the early morning, would expose him to danger. that's -- that's not acceptable. so that is something that i will think about in the future. >> i bet you most members of congress would tell you they don't want any personal detail -- i certainly don't. i've never felt unsafe here or in pittsburgh. but i do think when you have a situation where you have 20, 30,

or 40 members of congress all in the same place and an area that is completely open to anybody, just walking through, perhaps we should maybe rethink that a little bit. i think from a personal standpoint, most members will tell you they feel fine and they're not looking for any security. >> this fine young lady right there. >> do you think there's been an increase in political violence? >> political violence? there's been an increase in terrorism if that's considered political violence, i'd say the answer is yes. this country has always had a huge amount of tension political ly. in the civil war, we shot at each other for 2 1/2, 3 1/2 years. normally you yell and scream and that's as far as it goes. again, the technology today

makes it so much more personal and i think some of the tv attack ads make it easier for the general population to want to resort to personal attacks. that's just my opinion. yes, sir? >> do you think -- you clearly are both -- by this morning's events, do you think this will translate into any actual change six months from now? >> i would say yes because this is -- this is a -- the institution of the congress and the extension of that, this baseball game, where, you know, we play it to have fun, but we raise a lot of money for charity. we'll raise over a half a million dollars for charity tomorrow night. and i think a lot of members who came to the briefing this morning feel like it's time to take a step back and i can tell

you, my goal in inviting the republic chance to dinner at the democratic campaign committee has got to be a historic first step in bipartisanship, and i'm going to order the most expensive steak on the menu, if you have steak on the menu. >> we're democrats, we don't have steak. >> or a bologna sandwich. >> that's just in your club. >> i don't know if i'd go as far as to say yes. i've been around this place a long time, seen a lot of tragedy happen and seen us say it's going to change and it hasn't. so let me say, the answer i would say is i hope so because it needs to happen. i guess time will tell. >> it's only been a couple hours since -- can you describe a little more of the emotional and psychological stages you've gone through, how your son's doing, and if you changed -- >> i did get home. >> and an update on the victims. >> i told him i wouldn't stand next to him until he changed his

clothes. >> one thing that hasn't changed is the traffic. 395 is a parking lot. that's why we started at 4:00 instead of 3:30. well, when it happens, when you don't know that you're going to be shot at, and so you hear this bang, and you're not sure that it's a shot, but then you heard three or four bang, bang, bangs right in a row and you knew that we were being shot at. and my son was down in the -- along the first base side with my oldest son in a batting cage. and i was by the first base dugout on the on-deck circle so i look down there and i yelled at brad, my oldest son, just, get jack and get down. and they both did. and then somebody told me to get down and i did and then we -- i

got jack -- he crawled under a car outside of the fence and he was under a car with the bleachers between him and the shooter so he was in a very safe place because he would hait woun hard for the shooter to know he was there. so then you just wonder when it's going to stop but you keep hearing these, like, fire crackers going off and it may have only been four, five minutes but it seemed to me like at least ten minutes before they finally got the shooter down. so while that's going on, you're just -- i could see jack and see him under the car and i just kept saying, stay down, jack, stay down, stay under the car, stay under the car. i finally saw one of the security officers rush the shooter with his pistols drawn and said, drop the pistol, or drop the pistol, pistol down. and when he didn't do that,

this -- i think this is the officer that shot the attacker. and we got everybody together and several members of congress, when scalise was shot, they rushed to steve and administered first aid and protected him. congressman winstrop and congressman brooks, congressman laudermilk and i'm missing one, there were four of them that were out on the field the time administering first aid and protecting congressman scalise. so you're just -- your focus is on, in my case, both my sons and just to get the shooter then to check who was hurt. i did call 911. i also called the capitol hill police on my cell phone.

and as soon as it was apparently safe to get up, i checked on everybody who was down and then made a phone call to try i to get the speaker on the phone and let him know what was going on. >> the condition of those shot including the -- >> mr. scalise is in stable condition. there was a volunteer, former congressional staffer, who's probably the most seriously wounded. he's out of surgery and is, i would say, i'm not a doctor so i don't know what condition to rate him, but he -- he does not appear to be in imminent danger. another staffperson for roger williams was shot in the leg. i think he's out of the hospital. roger williams either broke his

ankle or severely twisted his ank ankle. he's in a boot, on crutches, but he's okay. at least two of the officers were shot, and i'm told that they're okay. and the shooter was shot and passed away. >> sir, so congressman scalise is stable is your -- >> that's -- you need to check with his office. i'm told he's out of surgery and -- >> you haven't been able to talk to him? >> i have not. i have not tried to bother him, no, sir. >> will there be anything special tomorrow during the ceremony marking -- >> we're working on that. both at our level en atnd is the speaker pelosi level, so the short answer is we think so, but we don't have confirmation on that. >> congressman, now you're saying that you obviously want to find a better political climate to be around, but how can a better political climate

necessarily happen when the likely arguments that are going to happen now are going to be on gun control or no gun control? >> well, i can't answer that. i mean, thank god we had security people there this morning that had guns. i don't belief the shove the sht that through. the fact we had people that could shoot back saved a lot of lives. but beyond that, i'm not going to comment. i mean, that's -- that's, you know -- honorable people can have different opinions about that issue. >> this will be the last question. >> on an emotional level, not a political level, there are mass shootings around this country, it's not uncommon. does this change how, like, your visceral reaction to when these happen? >> are you asking me or mr. doyle? >> mine has always been the same. when those children were shot at sandy hook, i mean, any time any

mass shooting like that happens, you think about your own family. your spouse. your siblings. because that's what happens. people lose their loved ones. and these are horrific acts and i think all of us are just repulsed when they happen. and we have, you know, disagreements on what the answer to that is, and there's no easy answer to it. if there was an easy answer, it would be done already. but today feels just like these other incidents to me. i thank god no one died. >> except the shooter. >> well, the shooter died. we're just glad everyone else was okay. >> my reaction is why would somebody hate somebody so much that they would shoot somebody they didn't even know? other than an act of war where you're defending your country or

in your home defending your family, i just don't see how people shoot people or kill people, attack people. he's somebody that i never met, and to my knowledge had never met anybody on that field yet he drove a fair distance and whether he intended to do what he did or he did it on the spur of the moment, when he started shooting, he was shooting to kill people. and thank god he wasn't a very good shot and thank god we had security officers on scene that shot back and deflected him from shooting the members. had he been able to get inside the fence, on the first base side into the dugout, there were 15 to 20 members and staff that were just laying on the ground and they were not targets so long as he was outside the

fence, but had he gotten in the fence, it would have been a bloodba bloodbath. thank you, all. game's tomorrow at 7:05. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> raw emotion. genuine civility. and some unscripted bipartisanship there on full display. one of the headlines, the game, the baseball game, that is, will go on. that was democratic congressman mike doyle of pennsylvania, and his friend, republican congressman joe barton of texas. they also serve as the managers of the congressional baseball teams. they were speaking on the hill on a press conference. hi, everyone, i'm nicolle wallace brepicking up our break news coverage. we woke up to a shooting in the washington, d.c., suburb of alexandria today. members were practicing for a charity baseball game that will still take place. house whip steve scalise whose district includes new orleans was shot in the hip. he's in critical condition at this hour. four others were also shot. as you may have seen moments ago, we received new video of this morning's shooting.

[ gunshots ] >> get down! get down! [ gunshots ] >> do we know where he's at? >> what? >> do we know where he's at? >> he's behind home plate. have you called 911? >> i assume people have been calling 911 already. [ gunshots ]

>> [ bleep ]. [ gunshots ] >> hey. is that guy okay out there? the guy -- has that guy been shot? is he okay? is anybody talking to him? [ gunshots ] >> stay down! stay down! stay down! [ gunshots ] >> [ bleep ].

>> put it down! put it down! [ gunshots ] >> [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> shoot him! >> the shooter was 66-year-old james hodgkinson from illinois. hodgkinson was killed by capitol police who according to senator rand paul who was on the baseball field at the time of the shooting prevented this morning's tragedy from becoming a massacre. >> one of the things that is really fortunate and probably why not everybody probably would have died except for the fact that the capitol hill police were there and the only reason they were there is because we had a member of leadership on our team. if scalise wouldn't have been on the team, unfortunately he was hilt, a hit, and i hope he does well. also by him being there probably saved everybody else's life because if you don't have a leadership person there, there would have been no security

there. >> all right. i'm going do to begin with hans nichols at medstar washington hospital. nbc's kelly o'donnell who covered the hill for years and now our white house correspondent. hans, what do we know about how congressman scalise is doing after surgery? >> reporter: well, frankly, we're getting some conflicting reports, nicolle. the hospital about two hours ago said he's in critical condition. but we just heard from congressman barton there saying he's in stable condition and that he's out of surgery and that he's almost out of the woods. so we're trying to reconcile that because throughout the day, really starting around 11:00, we've had congressmen tell us that steve scalise, the house whip, the third in line, is in stable condition. where the hospital is using the term, critical. and it's difficult to reconcile those two. we also had a little bit of an update from congressman barton there on matt mika, former staffer, now a lobbyist for tyson's food. he seemed to suggest mika was also out of surgery, that would be a new piece of information. he wasn't taken to this hospital. he was taken to george washington hospital.

remember, he is the former staffer. he was on the pitching mound, actually, when this happened. scalise was on second base and the staff, the former staffer took a variety of shots including two to the chest, including one to his lung. a bullet was lodged in his lung and surgeons are working very -- were working very diligently on him. we don't know, we can't confirm if he is in or out of surgery. so, nicolle, we're going to head back to the hospital now and clarify whether or not he's in critical condition, as the hospital said two hours ago, this is steve scalise, or if he's stable as most of his colleagues on capitol hill seem to believe. nicolle? >> hans, come back if you learn anything new. kelly o., you're covered these men for many, many years. i'm sure you've heard lots of unscripted sentiments throughout the day. i've been following you on twitter all day. we also saw a very different donald trump today when he addressed the tragedy. what are you picking up from both sides of pennsylvania aven avenue? >> reporter: well, nicolle, as you understand so well, outside events can often test a

president in unexpected ways and shape a presidency. this happens to be president trump's 71st birthday. this was going to be a day when he had other agenda items in mind. and instead he had to pick up the phone and call the wife of congressman scalise to speak with her in a moment of crisis. he came out and also spoke in the kind of more traditional ways that we don't normally assign to this president in praising the heroism of the officers who were on the scene and speaking about bringing the country together. of course, the president is very pro-law enforcement and pro-military, but i'm speaking in terms of this is a real first test for the president to have an emotional event of an unexpected tragic consequence that really rattles people, not only in washington, d.c., but it's a sign of the sharper conditions we live in. as motives get assigned to the now-deceased gunman, and other things are known, we may have a better sense of what brought this all together but in those

initial moments when the president was notified, he reached out by phone to leadership in congress and really had to be the person who could come out and speak on behalf of the nai nation in a way that would provide some measure of comfort and resolve and that is a new sort of lane for president trump on a day when the country does look for leadership to bring people together. we also saw it in house speaker paul ryan and the democratic leader nancy pelosi who spoke about being on the same page today in honoring the work of the officers who i always say have this unique place in law enforcement life. they interact in a very positive way with dozens, sometimes hundreds and thousands of members of the public who come to the capitol and are around there in a way that many people in law enforcement don't have that direct interaction with huge crowds in a happy way day to day. at the same time, they're some of the most tactically trained and recognize they have high-value targets in their

protection. quite a bit. we saw at how a baseball practice, these officers were able to respond. so an emotional day at the white house, a now quiet day at the white house on not only the president's birthday, but also flag day. a day when people are coming together emotionally. we stand behind the flag as well. nicolle? >> kelly o., incredible reporting all day long. anyone wants to get more texture on what this day's been like, readily kelly o.'s twitter feed. joining me from capitol hill, mr. collins of georgia. i wonder, first, if you have any information about how your friend and colleague, congressman scalise, is doing at this hour? >> i have nothing new to report except that he suffered a gunshot wound. he's been treated. i think that always involves the nature of what the doctors, he's stable, moving forward, i'm sure they're taking every precaution. i really at histhis point have nothing further to add. we have to wait for his office.

we've heard nothing new at this point. >> i've heard a lot of talk, i saw your two colleagues just now in a press conference, fielding questions about security. is your personal security on your mind today as you cycle through all of the emotions when a colleague is tragically shot while doing the most innocent of innocent activities for any member? >> well, it's always on your mind, and like most members i've had issues where people threa n threatened and i had somebody taken to jail because of a threat to me and my family. it's something we think about but not something we dwell upon. what we understand, we wan to be servants, waechbt to we want t people. we take precautions. understands from my military background, being around public service, you think about it but don't dwell about it. the texts we got this morning from our family members who we're not with making sure we were okay. what you saw in the press conference is a great example of what i see every interacting in

i see this every day. i see it in the gym, in the croakroom. we fight vociferously for what we believe. we're not going to back down. we understand the other point of view and try to get along. we laugh, we do those things together. what the america peopn people s the press conference is what i wish they'd see more often. >> where does the blame fall? i'm happy to take my share of it as someone who's worked on both sides. i thought it was incredibly powerful when congressman barton said his son had 25 dads this morning on the field. 25 of his friends and colleagues who would have protected him as he would his own son. why don't we see more of that? why does it take a tragedy? >> because why else would you report that? many times i -- >> if you came on any day and talked about feeling like your colleagues were all fauthers to your children, i would report that. why isn't -- listen, i'm happy to take my share of the blame. i wonder what you think in your

body is responsible -- just describe the pie to me. where do the pieces of blame lie for all of us? >> well, let me just say the first piece of blame is laying within the individual who's now deceased who decided to take whatever motivations he had and i don't care what those motivations, political, nonpolitical, whatever they may be, he made a choice today to cross the line of human decency. he made a choice today to live outside the bounds of human existence and take a rifle or a gun or whatever weapon, he chose a gun this morning, and to attack innocent human beings. he made this first choice. now, in addition to your question, a lot of times we just get busy up here. it's a lot like everybody's life. most of the time reporters or even members, we don't talk about our personal life, don't talk about what goes on at the water cooler because when the camera goes on, the red light's on, you're asking questions, it's good questions about health care and our tax reform and the things that we deal with every day up here. that's just normal as we keel with it. i think what we see in moments like this, there's a chance for the veil to come down.

people begin to understand, if i can understand from boit sidth of the aisle, republicans and democrats, we are humans, we are affected by the debates but we're up here fighting for what we believe is right but at the end of the day i may believe somebody's idea is wrong, cut i do not believe that person is evil or wrong for thinking that. i think we have to do more persuasion and be a part of the solution. look, we all get emotional. we all have those moments. but i think what people saw, i could use that interview as a -- press conference as an example, we do after the thing, we go up to eve oaach other, say, hey, g point, not great point, are you kidding me? we go back and forth. unfortunately, that's not what happens when camera rolls many times. >> thanks for spending part of wrr day with me. i know it's been a busy one. come back any time. we appreciate your time. >> we appreciate you. thanks for having me. >> we're going to nesneak in a quick break and be back on the other side. is data that can make

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the former mayor of alexandr alexandria, virginia, joins me by phone. he was acquainted with the shooter and spoken with him twree frequently in recent days. thanks for being with me, sir. >> glad to be on. >> first explain how you became acquainted with the shooter? >> i am a 20-year member of the local ymca and i work out five days a week monday through friday in the a.m. between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m. i arrive at the "y" and more

than a month and a half ago i noticed this new member and what really terms of being noticeable was the fact this was a person that after he -- whatever he did for exercise or his daily routine, i would mostly encounter him around between 8:30, 8:45 when i finished my work wro workout and would be sitting in the main lobby entrance area of the "y" and he would sit there having coffee and have a laptop. and so i would sit there routinely and then do my, you know, have my coffee, read paper, work on my iphone, and members know me and they would come by and say, hey, good morning, mr. mayor, how are you doing? folks would say, i have a question, can i stop and chat with you? i said, sure, please do. and then after maybe the third day, he then approached me and said, hey, are you really the mayor? i said, yea, wyeah, why?

he said, i noticed people were referring to you as the mayor. i'm new. i said, my name is bill euille. never thought of it. after a couple days, he said you've been here a long time, you're the mayor, i'm sure you know good places to eat, what's a good place for breakfast, lunch? i would tell him places. he said, i'm looking for something close by that's walkable. by him saying that, i concluded maybe he doesn't have a car. i said, okay, go out, mt. vernon avenue, del ray, there's nice places, coffee shops and restaurants there. then a couple days later we'd chat and so forth. he would say, hey, you know, i'm looking for employment. do you know anybody hiring? i say, well, what kind of work are you looking for? he said i'm in construction. i said, oh, i'm in construction as well. and then i said, what kind of work? he said, well, i said are you a carpenter, electrician? he said, no, i work for home builders, i'm a home inspector. i said, oh, well, you know, i know home builders but i don't know too many people that are looking for home inspectors.

i said that may be something that the city government or local government may have a need for. so i said, go on the city website and see what openings they have. and then i left there that morning and about an hour later it dawned on me i had gotten e-mail from a business associate saying an organization or company was looking for a safety director, ininspector, rather. i called to the "y," i said, hey, i'm bill, the gentleman that normally sits every morning with the laptop, i said is he still there? he said, yeah. i said, can you put him on and tell him the mayor wants to chat with him? he gets on, i said, you still looking for work? yes. i said, well, i know a firm that's looking for safety inspector, i'm not sure if that's what you do. he said, i may be interested. i said, well, i'll be in tomorrow. i'll print it from my computer and give it to you. he said, can you e-mail me? so i said, yeah, sure. he gave me his e-mail address.

the next day, i'm there and i said, by the way, did you get my e-mail? he said, no, it must have gone to spam. i said, we verified the e-mail address he gave me. he said, that's it. i said let me re-send it. i sent it to him. he'd ask me questions, mayor, what's going on for the long weekend? the city? i said, oh, well, staalexandria always have things going on, go to the city's website pane look up the calendar and do that. he asked me, you know, some -- occasionally he said, hey, where do you hang out, what are good bars to go to in the evening, happy hour? i said, oh, joe thissen's is one of my favorite places along the king street avenue. unb unbeknownst to me, a while ago at home watching tv, i see the manager, park borough barbecue restaurant in del ray, she's being interviewed. i don't know how they connected the link that, you know, he

frequented there. i've never seen him there. but i referred it to him. it was a suggestion. then she said, oh, yeah, he comes in from time to time and they said, what does he like to drink? she said, all he drinks is budweisers. i don't know that. at any rate, that's the kind of conversation he and i had on a daily basis. >> mr. mayor, did you ever -- once he realized you were a former elected official, did you guys ever talk about partisan politics? i read a quote of -- >> no. >> -- yours in the paper where you said he indicated he agreed with us. did you mean as a democrat? what did you think he agreed on? >> that could have been a misquote or misinterp -- no, what i said to folks, he and i never had direct conversations about politics but if -- and we have a tv that's always on at the "y" in the morning, members are coming and going then when you finish you can sit down and relax at tables, you know, have conversation with other folks. and/or coffee or tea.

and, but if the tv was on and whether more recently if it was something about trump or something about the democrats or something about republicans on the hill, you know, whatever, folks would sit around like we all do, we're all tired of all this, this nonsense, and the expression would be, oh, gosh, i wish they would just move on to something else, get the business of this country going, moving forward. and he would not, you know, chime in other than initial reaction will be, i agree or something like that. you know? wasn't that, you know, he was -- from my perspective that he was taking sides one way or the other politically. and i never bothered to ask him his political preference. i didn't even know until today that he was a bernie sanders person. supporter. i do recall, you know, some conversations amongst -- including myself, him, another staff -- a couple of staff persons at the "y." after the elections.

you know. and he would -- >> oh. i think we're losing your audio. mr. mayor? >> but i said -- all right. >> okay. i'm sorry. i think your audio is dropping in and out. we thank you so much for spending time with us. we're going to dip into a press conference with congressman williams whose staffer was one of the victims of the shooting. >> as far as my ankle and feet, but that's the injury i have. it's an ankle leg injury that they have gotten me going to where i can move around and be okay tomorrow at the game and then i'll go home tomorrow night to get fixed. but everybody did what they needed to do. a lot of brave people serving in the united states congress. yes, sir. >> can you elaborate on your staffer's condition? representative barton said he's been released from the hospital. >> 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, 24. all the time he was bleeding and we were under fire, he was texting. 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, will the team plan on having practice tomorrow morning? i know the game's still set to be on. what about practice? >> some of us are on the injured reserve list right now, but i think we were supposed to have a breakfast tomorrow. that's been canceled, i believe. i believe what we will have is get there a little early tomorrow night and have, maybe

have a prayer service or something and then play baseball. if you're not sure which one i'll be, i'll be coaching third on crutches. but we plan, we're going to play. we need to play. this is a game that's been going on for over 100 years. it goes to charity. and we need to play this baseball game. and so i'm excited that we have decided to do that. i talked to the speaker today about it. i told him i felt like we should play. and i know he talked to congressman doyle. and congressman barton. we all agreed we need to play baseball. >> can you follow through that thought for us? why is it important to get out there and play tomorrow? >> that's a great question. i think it's important because i think these people that want to destroy our lives and our livelihood here in america, they win if we give in. america doesn't give out. america doesn't give in. and we must play this baseball game. if we don't play this baseball game and we go home, then they

win. so that's the reason. this is america. the greatest country in the world. if you punch us, we will punch back. and we're going to play baseball tomorrow. >> congressman, mike bishop described the situation here as, he said, quote, sitting ducks. guns saved our lives. can you comment on that as far as what you were feeling in this? >> well, it took the second shot for me to understand what was happening and hear everybody. and we were sitting ducks. we had no -- nothing to fight back with but bats if it got to that. we were sitting ducks. i think he was not able to get on the field because the gate was locked. on the other side. if he had gotten on the field, it could have been a bad situation. but he wasn't able to do that. but we were sitting ducks. i mean, you've got 40 people on a baseball stadium, a field, at

7:00 in the morning. he decided to shoot. and so bishop was right when he said that. that was a good way to say it. in the back. >> two questions. are you sure whether scalise was hit with that first bullet that was shot? did it seem like anybody was struck with that bullet, and also, you were pretty emotional off the top when you were talking about officers. i wondered if you had a chance to catch up with them. >> i haven't personally thanked them. i will be, but i'm thanking them again right here. they saved everybody's life. they literally did that. you know, i represent ft. hood, and they teach our military, take a step forward, not a step back when you're in combat. these guys and gals did it. it is emotional. it's an emotional day.

and when you think back to your family, you think about your friends. you think about being in that position. it's emotional. >> do you know whether scalise was shot with the first -- >> i don't know. i have heard, and i have snow backup to this, at the first shot that we all heard was actually shot at trent kelly. who was at third base. and then trent ran, so i don't know which bullet got who. i don't know which one got zach or steve. yes, ma'am. >> congressman, how do you feel about your personal security after what happened today? what do you think should change around members' personal security? >> well, i frankly haven't thought about it. i know there's a lot of conversation if we should have security or what as individual congresspeople.

it's -- it's in a job that you're very -- people are very aware of you and where you are. i think we need to think about it. although i thought speaker gingrich put it well today when he said one of the great things about having elected government is you can talk to your elected officials. when you're in congress, we represent all about 800,000 people in our district, some didn't vote for us, some did, but we represent all of them. it's a slice of america. and people need to be able to talk to us. so i think it's a dialogue we're going to have, but we want to be able to keep where we have open government. but i will tell you, i'll be frank with you. here i am a congressman, and you know, every now and then, you would like to have a friend on one side of you. but i haven't decided that. i believe in open government. i thought speaker gingrich put it well today when he talked about that. >> all right, that was congressman williams whose young aide was shot when he was at the outfield fielding a ball. phil rucker, the bureau -- white

house bureau chief for "the washington post" joins me for the final minutes of this hour. we must play this baseball game, reminded me of another baseball game that needed to be played in the days after 9/11. george w. bush throwing out the first pitch at the yankee game. talk about how members of congress suddenly become so human, so quickly, and so quick toward bipartisanship and generosity of spirit toward one another in the midst of these tragedies. >> yeah, it's a real transformation, nicolle, just in the last ten hours in washington hearing the way the members of congress are talking about each other. also hearing the tone from president trump. he notably has restrained from weighing in on what we're learning frankly about the political background and viewpoints of the shooter. who, you know, has espoused a lot of negative things about trump that i thought he might want to jump in on. he hasn't. it speaks to this moment here that the entire political class in washington seems to be trying to reach for some unity, and we'll see how long it lasts.

there are a lot of divisive issues on the agenda at the moment. but for now, at least, and certainly for the game tomorrow night, i think we'll see a real coming together. >> are you hearing anything about the white house considering an appearance by the president at the baseball game? >> well, the reports are he's not going to be appearing tomorrow, and that's in large part because of security. >> sure. >> protocols, it would take too long for the secret service to arrange for that to happen. maybe there will be some way he can appear. maybe there will be a video message of some kind. vice president pence who is close with a lot of these house members will still be traveling down to miami tomorrow. i'll be on that trip with him to speak to some central american leaders. so we'll see. i wouldn't be surprised if there's some trump element to the game tomorrow, a video message, something like that. >> are you aware of any edict going down, either from house leadership or from white house affairs instructing people not to get into the politics. you mentioned a few things we know about the shooter. he was very politically active.

his local paper has written about and talked today about his political affiliation. he was no fan of this president's. but are you aware of anyone instructing house republicans or other republicans in the sort of conservative media world not to make those points? or is that just sort of the shock of the moment? >> i think it might be the shock of the moment. i'm not aware of any directive that's come on from on high. maybe there is something that we just don't know about. but i think certainly, at the white house, there's an effort by the president and all of his aides to refrain from weighing in on the politics of the moment and on the speaker, you don't see any tweets that are like nasty bernie bro, sad, loser, anything like that. it is a really different tone, a respectful presidential tone from donald trump today. again, we're only ten hours in. that could change tonight or tomorrow or over the weekend, but for now, there's an effort to not get into that. >> all eyes will be on your home page. thanks so much for spending time

with us. that does it for my hour. i'm going to turn it over to chuck todd and "mtp daily" and i think he starts with pete williams. >> rough day. rough day for all of us. thanks, nicolle. it's wednesday, this is a day many of us feared would happen. >> good evening. i'm chuck todd here in chicago. welcome to mtp daily. law enforcement and officials at the fbi will be briefing reporters on the latest developments in the congressional shooting today. we will take you to that briefing the minute it begins. folks, we have all been terrified of a day like this. for those of us living here in washington, there's been a fear that a day like this was inevitable, sadly. we have been in a tinder box of constantly escalating rhetoric for far too long now, and today, things did turn violent. sadly, there will be a temptation by some to exploit today's tragedy for