Ryan and Pelosi back 'Team Scalise' at congressional baseball game

House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi projected a message of unity Thursday evening at the outset of the congressional baseball game.

The joint interview, a first for the two, with CNN's Jake Tapper came a day after House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others were shot at a Republican baseball practice.

"He's got a ways to go," Ryan said of Scalise. "He's going to recover. It's going to take him some time."

Pelosi, who like Ryan was wearing Louisiana gear in honor of Scalise, said the injured member was a "lovely person," and hailed the bipartisan spirit of the annual game.

"Tonight we're all Team Scalise," Pelosi said.

Ryan and Pelosi have sought to present a unified front since the shooting. Shortly after the incident, the pair addressed a packed House chamber, calling for unity and condemning the attack.

But as several voices supportive of President Donald Trump, like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, drew lines between anti-Trump rhetoric and the shooting, Pelosi pushed back earlier Thursday, arguing the Republican insistence that Democratic rhetoric was to blame for the shooting rang hollow, given the long record of "vitriolic" language from the Republican side of the aisle.

The alleged gunman expressed deep-seated opposition to Republicans on social media and identified himself as a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Sanders took to the Senate floor on Wednesday to say the gunman had "apparently volunteered" for his campaign. He said the shooting "sickened" him and stressed his commitment to nonviolent action.