Steve Scalise: Don?t blame Trump for mass shootings

By KELSEY TAMBORRINO08/11/2019 01:14 PM EDTHouse Minority Whip Steve Scalise on Sunday called it “a very slippery slope” to blame President Donald Trump’s rhetoric for mass shootings in recent weeks.The Louisiana Republican said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “there's no place” for attacks based on someone’s ethnicity.Story Continued Below“But to try to assign blame to somebody else, I think, is a very slippery slope because the president's no more responsible for that shooting as your next guest, Bernie Sanders, is for my shooting,” said Scalise, who was shot in June 2017 during a Republican congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Va. Let's make sure these background check systems work properly and are rooting out the people that shouldn't be able to legally purchase a gun but currently are because the system hasn't worked.”Scalise, asked whether he has advised the president to reconsider some of his words that might be considered inflammatory, said Trump “was very clear just the other day that there's no place for this.” O'Rourke, however, appeared Sunday on CNN where he said the people of El Paso told him "They didn't want to see the president."They understand Trump is part of the problem, O’Rourke said, citing the president's warnings of infestations and his description of El Paso as one of the most dangerous cities in the United States."For him then to focus on comparing political rallies, or on himself or on how much people love him, just shows you how sick this guy is and how unfit for this office," O'Rourke said.