FBI swept congressional baseball game shooter’s left-wing extremist motives under rug, House report says

The House Committee on Intelligence released a report Tuesday alleging the FBI withheld critical information confirming the political motivation of the 2017 Congressional baseball game shooting.

The report alleges the FBI, under then-Acting Director Andrew McCabe, “improperly classified” information on the investigation that would have undermined the official “suicide by cop” conclusion, while also failing to interview key witnesses and victims. The FBI was reportedly in possession of evidence that the shooter, James Hodgkinson, was a far-left extremist who premeditated the attack two months before, naming specific Republican targets in a handwritten note before opening fire on GOP congressmen and staffers at a baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia.

Moreover, Hodgkinson made hostile phone calls to congressmen regarding the Republican party, as well as sending “angry” letters to multiple newspapers, the report found.

“Unfortunately, this report confirms that under previous FBI leadership, the Bureau completely botched the investigation into this politically motivated attack, which threatened the lives of numerous Republican Members of Congress, staff, and bystanders,” Committee Chairman Rick Crawford said in a statement Tuesday. “It is unacceptable and alarming that the FBI would approach any investigation within its purview with this complete disregard and lack of investigative integrity.”

“The FBI has determined Hodgkinson’s motive to shoot and kill individuals at the congressional baseball practice most aligns with an act of ‘suicide by cop,’” the FBI said in a 2017 executive intelligence briefing listed in the report. “This determination was based upon analysis of his communications, activities, behavior, and associations.”

The FBI seemingly only disclosed evidence that supported the “suicide by cop” conclusion, only disclosing one letter despite obtaining at least six other statements in the notes that make his political motives clear, according to the House report. In 2021, the FBI changed the motive for domestic extremism while not considering any new information.

“Whatever its political purpose, the FBI’s starting position was that the shooter was suicidal, hoping to die by gunfire with police,” the report reads. “It appears to the Committee that investigative efforts and intelligence analysis then attempted to reinforce the ‘suicide by cop’ argument despite the clear and contrary facts of the case.”

Hodgkinson was an avid supporter of Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on his public Facebook at the time of the shooting, while also calling President Donald Trump a “traitor.” He was also a member of Facebook groups titled “Terminate the Republican Party,” “Trump is not my president,” and “Expose Republican Fraud.”

At the time of the shooting, former Democratic House minority leader Nancy Pelosi appeared to blame Republican rhetoric for the shooting, saying Republicans championed a “politics of personal destruction.”

The FBI did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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