Washington Times

The FBI used a “biased and butchered analysis” to conclude that a left-wing gunman who shot Rep. Steve Scalise and three others at a Republican baseball practice in 2017 wasn’t motivated by political hatred, according to a House Republican report released Tuesday.

The scathing report challenged the FBI’s initial findings that gunman 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 gunman about his political motives, including the names of six Republican 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. Mr. Scalise nearly died, and three others were also wounded.

The 3,000-page report by the majority staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence criticizes the FBI’s investigation under acting Director Andrew McCabe. It says the agency had “predetermined” that Hodgkinson’s motives were “suicide by cop” rather than a “premeditated assassination attempt on Republican congressmen by a radical, left-wing political extremist.”

Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, Arkansas Republican, said the FBI acted with “a complete disregard and lack of investigative integrity.” Committee Democrats largely agreed with the report’s findings.

Hodgkinson 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, Virginia, where Republican lawmakers were practicing for the annual Congressional Baseball Game.