House Dem Credits Shooting Victim Steve Scalise With Helping Him To Safety During WHCD

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) expressed his gratitude to his Republican colleague, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (LA), for helping him to safety during the chaotic moments following a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ dinner Saturday night.

After the dust settled, Moskowitz posted to X, “I am at the #WHCD. I want to thank law enforcement, Capital police. I personally want to thank Steve Scalise who grabbed me into a secure room.”

Moskowitz told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday that he was hiding under the table when he saw security rushing toward Scalise.

“And so I popped up and said, ‘Steve, can I come with you?’ And he said to his detail, ‘He’s a member, grab him.’ And, you know, Steve grabbed me and put me into into the secure room with him. You know, regular members don’t have anything. We don’t have any detail. We don’t have any protection. There’s a fund we’ve been given when we’re out and about. But in an event like that, we’re just like everybody else, right? Only leadership has that. And so yeah, I’m very thankful for Steve for letting me come with him and putting me into the secure room.”

Scalise was shot and seriously wounded in 2017, during a practice for the Congressional Baseball Game by a gunman who was targeting Republicans. Moskowitz had his own close call in 2024, when police raided the home of a constituent and discovered an arsenal plus Moskowitz’s name on a target list.

“Me and Steve going out, again, two people who have both had to deal with this,” Moskowitz said. “I mean, you know, Steve doesn’t walk well. You know, he couldn’t run, as people were running, he couldn’t run. And so it just, you know, yeah, it’s a terrible reality.”

Moskowitz is also a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, where 17 people were killed by a school shooter in 2018. He has made gun violence prevention and school safety legislation a cornerstone of his time in Congress.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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