‘Difficult’ recovery
GOP House Whip Steve Scalise remains in critical condition
WASHINGTON — In critical condition and undergoing repeated surgeries, GOP House Whip Steve Scalise faces a “much more difficult” struggle to recover from his gunshot wound than first thought, President Donald Trump said Thursday.
The House lurched back to business in a somber mood as law enforcement tracked the path the shooter traveled to his ball field carnage.
Investigators studying Wednesday’s attack at a suburban Virginia park said shooter James Hodgkinson had obtained his rifle and handgun from licensed firearms dealers. Capitol Police said they had “no evidence to suggest that the purchases were not lawful.”
Hodgkinson, a Belleville, Ill., home inspector who had been living out of his van near the park, had a social media page filled with criticism of Republicans and the Trump administration. He died after officers in Scalise’s security detail fired back at him.
The FBI said it was investigating the shooter’s “activities and social media impressions” in the months leading up to the attack. Authorities were also going over a cellphone, computer and camera taken from Hodgkinson’s white van, which was parked near the ball field.
So far, investigators have not linked Hodgkinson to any radical groups, said a law enforcement official.
Colleagues who visited Scalise at a Washington hospital sounded generally upbeat, but spoke more in terms of hopes than the confident predictions of the immediate aftermath a day earlier.
Democrat Cedric Richmond, a fellow Louisiana congressman, said as did many others that Scalise is a fighter. “I’m prayerful he will pull through, and I hope he does,” he said.
Scalise was fielding ground balls at second base Wednesday when he was shot at a practice for an annual Republicans-Democrats baseball game. Richmond, who plays for the Democratic team, said he had visited the hospital twice and planned to go again before Thursday night’s game at Nationals Park.
Four miles north of the Capitol, Scalise, 51, lay at Medstar Washington Hospital Center with a rifle wound in his left hip that shattered bones, tore organs and caused severe bleeding. The House’s No. 3 GOP leader completed his third surgery late Thursday, and a person close to the lawmaker said he remained in critical condition.
“He’s in some trouble,” said Trump, who had visited late Wednesday. “He’s going to be OK. We hope.”
Scalise was among five people wounded when a shooter sprayed rifle fire at congressional Republicans practicing on a diamond in Alexandria.
Also hurt but released from hospitals were two Capitol Police officers, David Bailey and Crystal Griner, and House GOP aide Zack Barth. Lobbyist Matt Mika was shot multiple times and critically injured and remained hospitalized.
The Capitol’s usual partisan combativeness, though not absent, was less pointed than usual and warm words were exchanged between some lawmakers with starkly opposing political philosophies.