When congressional baseball teams square off tonight for their annual charity game, they will do so in LSU gear.
The university shipped purple and gold hats and t-shirts to Washington lawmakers, who will don the gear in honor of Louisiana Congressman and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. Scalise, a graduate of LSU, was among five people shot Wednesday morning on a Virginia baseball field. A gunman, with an online trail of anti-Trump sentiments, opened fire on Republicans partaking in practice session ahead of tonight’s game.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, assured lawmakers hours after the shooting that the game will be played as scheduled. The first pitch will be thrown at 7:05 p.m.
Scalise,51, remains in critical condition in a Virginia hospital, where he has undergone a third surgery after sustaining a rifle wound in his left hip that shattered bones, damaged organs and caused severe bleeding, The Associated Press reports.
“He’s in some trouble,” says President Donald Trump, who had visited late Wednesday. “He’s going to be OK. We hope.” It was an assurance offered as a shaken U.S. House gaveled back into session.
While many have called for unity in wake of the shooting, it hasn’t taken long for the event to become political.
Speaking on the House floor, Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., issued a call to “replace the hateful rhetoric and resistance with respect.” Rep. Steve King of Iowa said over Twitter, “The center of America is disappearing, and the violence is incited by the leading cultural voices of the Left.”
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi lashed out at “sanctimonious” Republicans—including some in Congress—who are suggesting vitriolic political rhetoric from the left may be partially to blame for the shooting that wounded Scalise.
Pelosi says it’s “outrageous” and “beneath the dignity” of the House, adding: “How dare they say such a thing, how dare they.” She adds everyone should examine their own conscience.
