Steve Scalise: Trump Isn’t Responsible for El Paso Shooting, Like Bernie Sanders Wasn’t to Blame for Mine

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) defended Donald Trump on Sunday over the notion that the president is responsible for the sociopolitical climate that led up to the El Paso shooting.

During an interview with CBS’ Margaret Brennan, Scalise was asked if he has any concerns about Trump referring to immigrants as though they are “invading this country.” Scalise answered that there is “no place” in America for attacks on people based on their ethnicity, but he also lamented the “slippery slope” of casting blame for El Paso on anybody but the shooter.

“To try to assign blame to somebody else I think is a very slippery slope, because the president’s no more responsible for that shooting, as your next guest, Bernie Sanders, is for my shooting.”

Scalise was referring to the 2017 Congressional baseball shooting, an attack that left him severely injured when an extreme left-wing gunman attacked Republicans in Virginia during a practice game session. The congressman continued to slam Trump’s critics for their “ridiculous assessment of blame” to anyone but the shooter.

As reporters frequently noted while covering the shootings, the El Paso shooter allegedly released a hateful, anti-immigrant manifesto before the massacre that has numerous parallels with the president’s charged rhetoric. This is different from the Dayton shooting, where investigators have yet to produce evidence that the perpetrator acted on a racial or political motive.

Since the Dayton and congressional baseball shooters were both Sanders fans, the president’s defenders recently tried to connect those attacks in order to form the basis of Scalise’s argument: that Sanders wasn’t responsible for those the same way Trump isn’t responsible for El Paso. Brennan had Sanders on the show next and started by asking for his response to Scalise.

“I condemn all forms of violence,” Sanders said. While the Vermont senator continued to say that he doesn’t think Trump wants anybody harmed, he added, “I think he creates a climate where we are seeing a significant increase in hate crimes in this country” thanks to Trump’s divisive rhetoric.

Watch above, via CBS.