A recently issued congressional report criticizes the FBI for improperly managing its probe into the
In 2017, there was a shooting during aRepublican congressional baseball practice.
where House Majority Leader Steve Scalise sustained severe injuries.
On Tuesday, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, led by Republicans,
released its report
, stating that the FBI overlooked indications of political motives and first labeled the incident as “suicide by cop” instead of categorizing it as an act of domestic terrorism.
On June 14, 2017, James Hodgkinson fired shots at the Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Virginia, injuring Steve Scalise, two U.S. Capitol Police officers, and a congressional staff member prior to being killed by law enforcement.
According to the committee report, Hodgkinson had a documented history of anti-Republican views, had conducted online searches of Republican lawmakers, and was a member of a Facebook group titled “Terminate The Republican Party.” The committee criticized the FBI for initially dismissing the attack as an act without political motivation.
“The FBI employed false statements, manipulated known facts, and conducted biased and flawed analyses to back up the claim that Hodgkinsons death was a suicide by law enforcement with no connection to domestic terrorism,” according to the report.
In a press release
Scalise stated, “This report clearly demonstrates that the FBI botched the investigation… overlooking key and evident details to propagate a misleading story suggesting the shooting lacked political motivation.” He expressed gratitude to present FBI Director Kash Patel for offering clarity to the panel and encouraged the bureau to implement the committee’s suggestions.
Even though Republican members of the committee strongly criticized the FBI, the minority group concurred that the incident constituted domestic terrorism. However, they differed when it came to suggesting that intelligence analysts might be subject to possible criminal charges due to analytical mistakes, arguing that these proposals could hinder impartial evaluations.
The FBI formally reclassified the attack as domestic terrorism in 2021, four years after the shooting.
The committee’s recommendations include an internal FBI review to determine why the original conclusion was reached, enhanced accountability and exploring whether domestic extremists are increasingly radicalizing toward political violence.
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