Boehner defends Steve Scalise: "Decent" man who "made a mistake"

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, offered a vigorous defense of his Majority Whip, Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, calling him a "decent, honest person who made a mistake" when he spoke to a white supremacist conference in 2002.

"I think Mr. Scalise made it clear that he made an error in judgment, spoke to a group not clear who they actually were," Boehner told reporters at a news conference Wednesday. "I know this man, I work with him, I know what's in his heart. He's a decent honest person who made a mistake. We've all made mistakes."

Boehner recalled his own start in the state legislature, the job Scalise held when he spoke to the group, remembering how he had "half of a staffer" but still fielded many speaking invitations.

Scalise himself took two questions about the incident at the GOP leadership news conference, and was asked about a claim by David Duke, the founder of the group and a former Ku Klux Klan leader, who claimed last week that Scalise, "echoed a lot of my ideology and my policies."

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"I reject bigotry of all forms," Scalise said. He added that the people he knows, both in Washington and Louisiana and on both sides of the ideological spectrum "know what's in my heart."

"I think that when you see the people that know me best both here and especially back home, people that I have served with, including people that I have been on opposite ends politically with who know the truth and know what's in my heart they're the ones who I think speak the best, and so with that you know I think that's what really says it all.