Representative Steve Scalise Returns to Capitol Hill After Shooting
BERMAN: All right. Live pictures from Capitol Hill, great expectations for a great moment for the House majority whip Steve Scalise, returning to Capitol Hill this morning for the first time since he was shot in June. He is due to speak very shortly inside the House of Representatives and he could walk by this place you're looking at right now. Let's go to Phil Mattingly who joins us live from Capitol Hill. A very, very emotional moment, Phil.</s>PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, no question about it. If you think back three months ago particularly in the first couple of days in the wake of that shooting, during a practice for the congressional baseball game, things were very touch and go. Staff didn't know how Congressman Scalise was actually going to end up. There were a lot of concerns about the depth of his injuries, the damage that had been done. They noted internal organs were hurt. You could just look in a snippet from a "60 Minutes" interview that will be running on Sunday, guys, Congressman Scalise said very frankly they needed to put me back together. That's how bad the damage was internally. There was no head's up that he was coming back to the Capitol today but I can tell you lawmakers have been waiting for this moment since the June shooting. And guys, I think interestingly enough the fact that he's coming back at this time, a very key time in the House as they look forward on legislative opportunities, I'll tell you when lawmakers started to get the sense that he was on the upswing, that he was out of kind of a bad place, was when he started participating in conference calls. And as his role in the House, he is the one who basically gathers the votes for them to be able to move their agenda forward. And all of a sudden he started calling in to their weekly whip meetings and started asking where the votes were. What he needed to do. Could he make phone calls. That was kind of the trigger point for a lot of people as to when they knew Congressman Scalise was getting back into a better place. But still, everybody knew and was fully aware it was going to be a very long process, the rehabilitation was going to be difficult, arduous and lengthy, and the fact that he is back today, as you noted, will be speaking on the House floor, should be walking through soon, if he -- if I dive out of the way it's for the best of possible reasons, because he's coming back in. And guys, I'll note that it's not just Republican House members that are here, obviously the entire House will be in there. I've also seen multiple senators walk in as well to welcome him back. So yes, when it comes to Capitol Hill obviously there are plenty of days where everybody is mad at one another and maybe things aren't on the right track but this is a very good day. There's no other way to put it.</s>HARLOW: Yes.</s>BERMAN: We saw the majority leader walk by the other camera, Kevin McCarthy going by, perhaps Steve Scalise going by very, very shortly, Phil. Any sense what he will say when given the chance, what subjects he wants to address?</s>MATTINGLY: Look, I've reached out to staff. They're saying, you know, pay attention to the floor, just let the words speak for themselves. If you look back to what happened three months ago, it's difficult to describe how shaken his colleagues were by that moment. How vulnerable they all felt. The reality of one of their own facing this. And I think also you think about the capitol police officers that were wounded as well, a staffer who was also shot, a lobbyist who was also shot in the chest, Matt Mika. All of whom have recovered. The big question now is the unity that was called for at that time, very poignant speeches by Speaker Paul Ryan on the House floor, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on the House floor as well, really calling on the chamber to come together, to try and go away from the kind of politics that have been so almost poisonous over the last couple of weeks. I think you'll hear a lot about that. That is certainly going to be a focus going forward.</s>BERMAN: All right. Phil Mattingly for us on Capitol Hill. Stand by. We will come back to you very shortly. Again waiting on Steve Scalise, his first trip back to the Capitol, a triumphant return after being shot in June. Stay with us.