The FBI has been criticized for not properly investigating the 2017 Congressional Baseball Shooting, which left six injured. Evidence indicates that there were attempts to downplay the shooter’s anti-Republican sentiments, despite having handwritten notes from the gunman.
This latest report, released by the House Judiciary Committee, the Intelligence Email Committee, and the Information Subcommittee on Monitoring and Investigation, looked through around 3,000 case documents last month and outlined significant shortcomings in the inquiry.
It draws a comparison, suggesting that the FBI tends to be less forthcoming about various cases, such as the placement of pipe bombs or other political incidents.
“Don’t expect them to reach the right conclusion; they were aware of the facts,” one commentary noted.
After James Hodgkinson attacked a Republican baseball practice session in Alexandria, Virginia, the FBI initially suggested in an executive briefing that he was looking to engage in “suicide by cop.” Yet, a surprising revision came in 2021, with the FBI eventually declaring the act to be motivated by national violent extremism, despite the lack of new evidence.
The discrepancies indicate that the FBI withheld information that could challenge their original narrative, which claimed Hodgkinson sought to commit “suicide by police.” This concealed evidence appears to include crucial handwritten notes listing several Republican targets.
At the time, the FBI only mentioned finding a document with the names of six congressional members but didn’t go into detail.
“This guy had a hit list,” remarked Rep. Jim Jordan. He further asserted that former FBI leadership including James Comey and Christopher Wray were aware it was a domestic terrorist action, yet it didn’t align with their narrative.
The report outlined three major failures by the FBI: not interviewing key victims and witnesses, lacking a comprehensive timeline of events, and improperly classifying some of the case materials.
