Trump Tells Favorite Story About Wife of Congressman Who Was Shot: ‘I Know Many Wives Who Would Not Even Be Crying’ 

President Donald Trump regaled Thursday’s White House Congressional Ball with seemingly his favorite story about House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), who was shot by a left-wing activist in 2017 during a GOP congressional baseball team practice. Four people were shot, and all survived. The gunman was shot by Capitol Police at the scene and later died of his wounds.

Flanked by First Lady Melania Trump, the president gave several shoutouts to Republican members of Congress, including the House majority leader’s wife, Jennifer Scalise.

“I always say he’s got great courage because he got hit real hard,” Trump said of the shooting, adding:

In fact, I went to the hospital, and they actually thought he wasn’t gonna make it. His wife was devastated. She was crying. I tell this story. I found out that night, you have a wife that loves you dearly. I know many wives who would not even be crying. Your wife was absolutely a mess. She was crying. She was inconsolable, Steve. So, we found that out. But you made it.

Trump went on to say that Scalise briefly played in the congressional baseball game four months later and made a nice play, but said Scalise was no Bobby Richardson. The president later said it was a “miracle” that Scalise survived.

The president also told the story on the Fourth of July, where he delivered ho-hum remarks commemorating Independence Day before taking a strange detour down this particular memory lane, the directions to which Scalise would perhaps rather forget.

“I was at his hospital bedside that night with Melania, with our First Lady,” Trump said at the time. “And he had no chance. The doctors said he has little chance. And you look better today than you did then. You didn’t look particularly good that night, I will say.”

Watch above via C-SPAN.