Mo Brooks using Alexandria shooting audio in campaign ad, skips vote on Capitol Police heroes
Senate Leadership Fund is once again blasting Senate candidate Mo Brooks for his latest campaign gaffes. This time, SLF is not the only group giving Brooks heat over a new campaign ad using audio from the shooting last month at a charity baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia. The 30-second spot – called “Second Amendment” — opens with sounds of the actual gunshots heard when “Bernie Sanders supporter” James Hodgkinson shot Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a lobbyist, a congressional aide, and a U.S. Capitol Police officer. Brooks was on scene during the Alexandria shooting, and the ad touts his giving a belt “as a tourniquet to help the wounded.” The ad closes with, “I’m Mo Brooks, candidate for the Senate, and I approve this message.” Several media outlets questioned the spot, and Scalise’s office condemned the ad. In addition, while Brooks was in Alabama campaigning for Senate, SLF points out that Brooks skipped several key House votes, including one that unanimously passed a bill aiding those Capitol Police Officers shot last month. Ironically, Brooks is one of the 128 co-sponsors of HR 3298, which seeks to authorize the Capitol Police Board to make payments from the Capitol Police Memorial Fund those officers who “sustained serious line-of-duty injuries.” Shortly after the shooting, Scalise’s wife praised Capitol Police Officers David Bailey and Crystal Grinner, saying in a statement that they “saved the lives of everyone at the baseball field.” Brooks absence raised several concerns. Asked by the Washington Examiner whether the Huntsville Republican simply missed the vote because of a scheduling error, Brooks campaign manager Clay Mills responded: “It was not an accident. I can’t speak to if Rep. Brooks personally knew if that bill would be considered, though.” An email from SLF email also outlines three other significant votes Brooks skipped Monday while on the Alabama campaign trail: — #407: Authorize funding for the CIA, NSA and Office of the National Intelligence Director. — #408: Providing an additional $2 billion in veterans’ health care funding. (409,997 veterans live in Alabama, SLF notes.) — #409: To eliminate the 15-year time limit to use Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits. SLF, the super PAC linked to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is also behind MoBrooksMoLies.org, a website launched to fact-check Brooks as he faces a contentious Senate campaign against incumbent Sen. Luther Strange — who SLF is supporting — and former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. A 10-person filed is vying for the Republican nomination to serve the remaining term of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Last week, Roll Call reported on internal polling for what is emerging as a close three-candidate race; Moore leads with 27 percent, Strange at 23 percent and Brooks at 21 percent. Alabama voters have until July 31 to register for the Aug. 15 special primaries, both Republican and Democratic. The last day to apply for an absentee ballot is Aug. 10. If there is no primary winner — with 50 percent plus one — a runoff is Sept. 26; the general election is Dec. 12.
Steve Scalise will need more surgery following shooting
A rifle-wielding attacker opened fire on Republican lawmakers as they practiced for a charity baseball game Wednesday, critically wounding House GOP Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and hitting aides and Capitol police as congressmen and others dove for cover. The assailant, who had nursed grievances against President Donald Trump and the GOP, fought a gun battle with police before he, too, was shot and later died. Colleagues said Scalise had been fielding balls at second base at a local park in Alexandria, just across the Potomac River from the nation’s capital, as the Republicans practiced for their annual game with Democrats. He dragged himself away from the infield leaving a trail of blood before fellow lawmakers could rush to his assistance. He was listed in critical condition Wednesday night at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, which said he will require several more operations. The hospital says he was shot in the left hip, after which ‘‘the bullet traveled across his pelvis, fracturing bones, injuring internal organs and causing severe bleeding.’’ The shooter was identified as James T. Hodgkinson, a 66-year-old home inspector from Illinois who had several minor run-ins with the law in recent years and belonged to a Facebook group called ‘‘Terminate the Republican Party.’’ He had been living out of his van in the Alexandria area in recent months, the FBI said Capitol Police officers who were in Scalise’s security detail wounded the shooter. He later died of his injuries, Trump told the nation from the White House. The attack on Republicans practicing for a ballgame deeply shook a capital already balancing on what often seems to be a razor’s edge. ‘‘Everyone on that field is a public servant,’’ Trump said, his tone somber, America’s acrimonious politics set aside for the moment. ‘‘Their sacrifice makes democracy possible.’’ Lawmakers noted their good fortune in having armed protectors on hand — ‘‘Thank God,’’ they exclaimed over and over — and said otherwise the shooter would have been able to take a huge deadly toll. The events left the capital horrified and stunned, and prompted immediate reflection on the current hostility and vitriol in American politics. Lawmakers called for a new dialogue on lowering the partisan temperature, and Trump urged Americans to come together as he assumed the role of national unifier for one of the first times in his presidency. Trump later visited the hospital where Scalise was recovering. The president then tweeted: ‘‘Rep. Steve Scalise, one of the truly great people, is in very tough shape – but he is a real fighter. Pray for Steve!’’ Proceedings were canceled for the day in the House, and instead, Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California issued their own calls for unity. ‘‘An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,’’ Ryan said, to prolonged applause. Shortly after the shooting, Bernie Sanders, the former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, said on the Senate floor that the shooter apparently was a volunteer for his campaign last year. Sanders said he denounced the violence ‘‘in the strongest possible terms.’’ Scalise, 51, the No. 3 House Republican leader, was first elected in 2008. The popular and gregarious lawmaker is known for his love of baseball and handed out commemorative bats when he secured the job of House whip several years ago. Texas Rep. Roger Williams said that one of his aides, Zack Barth, was shot but was doing well and expected to fully recover. Two Capitol Police officers sustained relatively minor injuries. A former congressional aide was hospitalized. The shooting occurred at a popular park and baseball complex where Republican lawmakers and others were gathered for a morning practice about 7 a.m. They were in good spirits despite the heat and humidity as they prepared for the annual congressional baseball match that pits Republicans against Democrats. The popular annual face-off, which raises money for charity, is scheduled for Thursday evening at Nationals Park across the Potomac River in Washington, and will go forward as planned. Hodgkinson has been in the area since March, living out of his van, said Washington FBI Special Agent In Charge Tim Slater. Democratic former Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille said he had spoken often with the man on recent mornings at the nearby YMCA. Hodgkinson’s apparent Facebook page included strong criticism of Republicans and the Trump administration. But Slater said authorities were still working to determine a motive and had no indication Hodgkinson knew about the baseball practice ahead of time. The GOP lawmakers’ team was taking batting practice when gunshots rang out and chaos erupted. After Scalise was hit, said Rep. Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, the congressman ‘‘crawled into the outfield, leaving a trail of blood.’’ ‘‘We started giving him the liquids, I put pressure on his wound in his hip,’’ Brooks said. The gunman had a rifle and ‘‘a lot of ammo,’’ said Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who was at the practice. Texas Rep. Joe Barton, still in his baseball uniform, told reporters that Scalise’s security detail, Capitol Hill police and then Alexandria police returned fire in a battle that lasted as long as 10 minutes and included dozens of shots. ‘‘The security detail saved a lot of lives,’’ he said. ‘‘It was scary.’’ Lawmakers took cover in the dugout. Barton said his son, Jack, got under an SUV. Texas Rep. Mike Conaway described what sounded like an explosion, then lawmakers scattering off the field as police roamed in search of the gunman and engaged him. ‘‘The guy’s down to a handgun, he dropped his rifle, they shoot him, I go over there, they put him in handcuffs,’’ Conaway said, adding that if the shooter had ‘‘gotten inside the fence, where a bunch of guys were holed up in the dugout, it would have been like shooting fish in a barrel.’’ Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina said he had just left the practice and encountered the apparent gunman in the parking lot before the shooting.
Ron DeSantis describes ‘strange encounter’ with man before congressional baseball shooting
U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis described a “strange encounter” Wednesday with a man in the parking lot of the congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia. The encounter occurred moments before shots fired, injuring Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana. Scalise was shot in the hip and is in stable condition after surgery. Some security team members were also wounded. The North Florida Republican told FOX Business Network hours after the shooting that the “guy … Walked up to us … Asking whether it was Republicans or Democrats out there.” DeSantis continued: “I had already taken ground balls, hit. Jeff Duncan, who I ride with, from South Carolina, he had done. So, I … and I was actually at third base he was at short. We were just shagging balls. He was at second. “I told Jeff, hey, we got to get on the road so we beat traffic, so we left about ten after seven. I think shots began you know within 3-5 minutes after that. “We reported to police that there was a gentleman that confronted us when we were going to our car and he wanted to know whether it was Republicans or Democrats that were out there. We said it was Republicans and he kind of started walking to the field. “I don’t know if that was the guy, but I think it’s important to put that information out there and it was a little bit different than someone would do that. He was really interested in wanting to know who was out there.” Police say the gunman, who opened fire with a rifle, is in custody. Rep. DeSantis who at baseball practice recalls: “A guy…walked up to us that was asking whether it was Republicans or Democrats out there.” pic.twitter.com/GwozCPRdve — Fox News (@FoxNews) June 14, 2017
