House Speaker Paul Ryan said he broke down in tears Thursday when Rep. Steve Scalise, the Majority Whip, returned to the Capitol for the first time since being shot at a congressional baseball practice in June.
“I’m not a big crier, but I was just a babbling idiot,” Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters.
Ryan joined Scalise in the Speaker’s office near the House chamber, where they taped part of a CBS interview that will air Sunday evening. Ryan left the interview visibly upset.
“I just could not compose myself. I didn’t have words for it,” he said.
Ryan talked about Scalise’s formidable road to recovery. He nearly died after a gunman shot him in the hip while Republican lawmakers practiced for a charity baseball game on a field in Alexandria.
The bullet caused massive blood loss and internal damage and Ryan recounted his fear that Scalise, in the days following the shooting, might die.
“We were there when he was basically in a coma, he couldn’t talk,” said Ryan, who spent time with Scalise at the hospital. “When he came off that helicopter it was very, very, very dire. For a couple of days we really thought we had a real chance of losing him.”
But Scalise is back, walking the halls with the help of arm braces and a scooter waiting to give him a ride when needed.
Scalise delivered an emotional floor speech Thursday morning, appearing all but normal with the exception of his difficulty walking.
“Where he has come from, from there to here, it really is miraculous,” Ryan said. “It’s just amazing, just to see him in there. Sitting and standing, with a suit on, just amazing. It was really something. I don’t really have words other than relief, and thanks to that end.”
