President Donald Trump on Thursday complimented the wife of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) for crying when the lawmaker was in critical condition after being shot in 2017, and claimed to know many spouses who would react differently. (Watch the video below.)
The remark seemed off under any circumstance, but at the White House’s Congressional Ball, it was downright weird.
Trump was completing shoutouts to prominent Republicans when he turned to Scalise, who survived the shooting at a congressional softball game practice and is now in his ninth term in the House.
“I went to the hospital and they actually thought he wasn’t going to make it,” Trump said. “His wife was devastated. She was crying. I tell the story. I found out that night you have a wife that loves you dearly. I know many wives who would not even be crying.”
The line got laughs. Trump actually told a similar version of the story on the Fourth of July.
