Gillibrand: Giffords doing ‘extraordinary’

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said Sunday that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) is “making progress every day.”

Giffords was taken off a ventilator Saturday. Gillibrand said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “it’s far too early” for Giffords to be able to speak, but she was showing that she understood commands.

“If there’s anyone in the world that will recover … it’s her,” the senator said, adding that she sees her friend’s “extraordinary” progress “as a triumph over terrible happenings.”

Gillibrand described the moment when Giffords opened her eyes — referenced in President Obama’s memorial speech that evening — with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) in the room. “It literally was the will of her husband,” Mark Kelly, drawing her out and coaxing her to open her eyes, Gillibrand said.

“It was all about her courage and her strength,” she said. “It was very clear to us that she was understanding everything we were saying.”

Gillibrand called the Blue Dog Dem one of the most “nonpartisan” lawmakers she knows, a woman who had previously called for more civil political discourse.

“She comes to public service with the goal of just helping people,” she said. “We can all take from her strength and hopefully ourselves be better than we are.”