The FBI used a “biased and butchered analysis” to conclude that a left-wing gunman who shot Republican Rep. Steve Scalise and three others at a GOP baseball practice in 2017 wasn’t motivated by political hatred, according to a House GOP report released Tuesday.
The scathing report challenged the FBI’s initial findings that shooter James Hodgkinson, 66, who died in a shootout with law enforcement, had been trying to commit “suicide by cop.” It said the FBI had handwritten evidence from the shooter about his political motives, including the names of six GOP lawmakers, and photographs he took while casing the ball field, but didn’t fully disclose all the details at the time.
The gunman shot Mr. Scalise, Louisiana Republican, who was then House majority whip. He nearly died; three others were also wounded.
The 3,000-page report by the majority staff of the House Intelligence Committee criticizes the FBI’s investigation under then-acting Director Andrew McCabe, saying the agency had “predetermined” Hodgkinson’s motives were “suicide by cop” as opposed to a “premeditated assassination attempt on Republican congressmen by a radical, left-wing political extremist.”
The committee is led by Chairman Rick Crawford, Arkansas Republican, who said the FBI had acted with “a complete disregard and lack of investigative integrity.” Committee Democrats largely agreed with the report’s findings.
Hodgkinson had proclaimed left-wing ideology and opposition to President Trump before the shooting. He traveled from Illinois to open fire with a rifle at the ball field in Alexandria, Va., where GOP lawmakers were practicing for the annual congressional baseball game.
A 10-minute shootout took place between Hodgkinson and officers from the Capitol and Alexandria Police before officers fatally shot Hodgkinson.
The committee noted that the FBI, in its press release at the time, withheld information from the public that would have undermined its “suicide by cop” narrative.
Hellbound and Down 