NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! They always ask me if I felt anything. “Through your foot? Your shin?” My shin? “Yes. Your ankle. Did you feel it?” Not precisely. But before I answer, they ask me again. What was it?” they asked. “Or did you just fall?” Then they speculated that I might be clumsy. Hmmph. Clumsy. I really don’t think so. REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: CONGRESS PREPARES FOR POST-ELECTION MUSICAL CHAIRS GAME AS LEADERSHIP BATTLE APPROACHES Chad Pergram slips and falls while asking Justin Trudeau a question. (Fox News) Oh. I fell like everyone else. I work out daily. I’ve taken a couple of tumbles on predawn runs in Alexandria, Virginia. You never know when one of those sidewalk snakes will slither up from the asphalt and nip you on the ankle. I used to snow ski. I studied martial arts for years and hold a second degree black belt.Clumsy? Nah.”But, what do you think it was?” they follow up. Well, I have my theories.I was a little tired that day. I noted the lip on The small staircase near the Memorial Gate of the US Capitol where I may have caught the edge of my brown loafers. I remember my shoes, rubber soles, slight wear on the toes. Perfectly matched with my crisp tan summer suit, but it was summer-appropriate. “I saw then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his small group of aides and a security team descending a spiral staircase after a meeting with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Democrat from California. I would try to ask Trudeau a question. Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP) No. This really has nothing to do with Trudeau. Or the fact that I remembered there was a photo of him, roughly aged. 14 or 15, at the Montreal Olympic Stadium, supporting the Expos. He is there with his father, the most famous of all Canadian prime ministers, the late Pierre Trudeau. Of course, the Expos no longer play in Montreal. They don’t play at all. They moved to Washington in 2005 and are now the Nationals. And this was before the tariff wars. Montreal has been devoid of Major League Baseball since then. Up, children. No, there wasn’t something on my shin or ankle. I didn’t feel anything. I was there, on those steps, at the United States Capitol, because I am a baseball fan. And I found out that Justin Trudeau watched those old Montreal Expos teams in the 1980s, with Andre Dawson, Warren Cromartie and Steve Rogers. Hobby. It’s ironic, I know, to ask such a question to a Canadian. However, the reason was that there was a report that the Tampa Bay Rays might consider splitting their season each year between Florida and Montreal. It would be international news if Trudeau commented on it on Fox FS1 in Canada. player’s strike, he could once again have a chance at baseball glory. But journalism is like baseball. A game of failure. Sometimes you do very well if you succeed three times out of ten. They were silenced. All for whatever got me. It absolutely got me. I walked up to Trudeau, muttered something about Tampa Bay, and bought it. I fell on those steps. Directly in front of the Canadian Prime Minister on the hard marble of the Capitol. I quickly realized that I was about to fall. And because I studied martial arts for everyone. During those years of Master Kim and Master Yang in the Tae Kwon Do dojang, I knew how to fall without getting hurt. I rolled over my right shoulder toward Trudeau. My feelings flew absurdly high in the air. “Oh Chad! Oh Chad! Oh Chad!” shouted my photographer, Robert Fetzer. “Chad!” Trudeau paused briefly. But I jumped up after the throw, hoping he might say something about baseball. I struck out. And Trudeau left. “But what made you trip?” they ask. “Were you okay?” Who? The U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images) In the late 19th century, Rep. William Taulbee, D-Ky., did not get along with journalist Charles Kincaid. Taulbee believed Kincaid was not an honest broker and wrote articles about his personal affairs. King injuries 11 days later. It probably goes without saying that Taulbee doesn’t like the congressional press corps, which is why his ghost has been known to lurk around the Capitol. Sometimes reporters from low bridges on ornate stairs. “What made you trip?” they exclaim, as if they had just discovered Final Jeopardy. As I say, I have my theories, I’ll let you come to your own conclusions. But I don’t want to trip them up. Chad Pergram currently serves as Chief Congressional Correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC).
