House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) ripped a tweet from Minnesota Attorney General
Keith Ellison(D-MN) defending the behavior of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) supporters and asking for examples of misconduct, with Scalise alluding to how he was shot by a Sanders supporter in 2017.
“I have never seen @BernieSanders supporters being unusually mean or rude," Ellison, a former Democratic congressman and deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, tweeted following the latest Democratic presidential debate Wednesday night.
"Can someone send me an example of a ‘Bernie Bro’ being bad. Also, are we holding all candidates responsible for the behavior of some of their supporters? Waiting to hear,” added Ellison, who was an early endorser of Sanders.
“I can think of an example,” Scalise responded in a tweet on Thursday.Scalise suffered near-fatal injuries after being shot at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Va., while practicing with fellow lawmakers and staff ahead of the Congressional Baseball Game for charity in June 2017.
The Louisiana Republican was struck in the hip after 66-year-old James Hodgkinson — who died from injuries after a shootout with police — opened fire on the group of Republicans, wounding five people including two Capitol Police officers, a GOP staffer and a lobbyist. After undergoing multiple surgeries, Scalise returned to work in September 2017.
Law enforcement officials said the shooting appeared to be politically motivated, with Hodgkinson — who volunteered for the Sanders campaign in 2016 and had a lengthy arrest record — criticizing the GOP on social media.
Following the shooting, Sanders condemned Hodgkinson's actions, calling the act of violence “despicable.”
"I have just been informed that the alleged shooter at the Republican baseball practice is someone who apparently volunteered on my presidential campaign," he said in a statement in 2017. "I am sickened by this despicable act."
"Let me be as clear as I can be. Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms. Real change can only come about through nonviolent action, and anything else runs against our most deeply held American values,” he added.
Scalise told conservative radio host Mark Levin he does not hold Sanders responsible for the incident during an appearance on his show in 2018.
