Kash Patel: The FBI's Years Long Stonewalling on the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game Assassin Is Over

At long last.

FBI Director Kash Patel announced this week that he had handed over to Congress long-sought bureau records related to the 2017 congressional baseball game shooting following years of House Republicans arguing the bureau was stonewalling on why it had labeled the attack "suicide by cop" instead of domestic terrorism.

James Hodgkinson, an extreme left-wing activist living out of a van in northern Virginia opened fire on Republicans at an Alexandria baseball field on June 14, 2017 after asking GOP congressmen who had left the practice early if the players were Republicans or Democrats. GOP Congressman Steve Scalise nearly died as a result of the attack. Before opening fire, Hodgkinson reportedly asked if the players on the field were Republicans, and then proceeded with his armed assault.

Republican congressmen have for years harshly criticized the 2017 decision by the FBI, led in an acting capacity at the time by Andrew McCabe, not to label the shooting by Hodgkinson as domestic terrorism despite his targeting of elected Republican leaders as they practiced for the annual Congressional Baseball Game. The FBI had instead dubbed the attack "suicide by cop" -- a position the bureau refused to reverse until 2021, and a position the FBI has never fully explained.

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As he sprayed bullets at the GOP members practicing for a baseball game, Hodgkinson's gunfire struck Scalise in the hip, hit lobbyist Matt Mika in the chest, and injured two Capitol Police officers, Crystal Griner and David Bailey. Scalise nearly bled to death and required multiple surgeries before returning to Congress. The shooter, who was killed by police, had written down the names of GOP congressmen.

McCabe, who was deeply involved in the FBI's roundly criticized Crossfire Hurricane investigation, took over the FBI after the May 2017 firing of former FBI Director James Comey, who himself had played a key role in the false Trump-Russia collusion saga. It was during McCabe's tenure that the bureau rejected calling the shooting "domestic terrorism." McCabe did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News through his LinkedIn page.

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Hodgkinson supporter of Democratic presidential primary candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, was killed by law enforcement after the attack. Infuriated by Trump winning the 2016 election, he had posted on Facebook that "Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It's Time to Destroy Trump & Co." and had joined other groups such as "Terminate The Republican Party" and "Join The Resistance Worldwide!!"

The FBI declared just a week after the shooting in June 2017 that it did not consider the baseball shooting a terrorist attack, saying, "The FBI is investigating this shooting as an assault on a member of Congress and an assault on a federal officer. At this point in the investigation, the FBI does not believe there is a nexus to terrorism." The FBI held onto this position for years.

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"Much to our shock that day, the FBI concluded that this was a case of the attacker seeking suicide by cop," Wenstrup said. "Director, you want suicide by cop, you just pull a gun on a cop. It doesn't take 136 rounds. It takes one bullet. Both [Department of Homeland Security] and the [Office of the Director of National Intelligence] published products labeling this attack as a domestic violent extremism event, specifically targeting Republican members of Congress. The FBI did not. The FBI still has not."

This is chilling. Particularly when you consider that the Democrat Party and permanent Deep State are currently agitating for more political violence against Trump, Musk, and anyone associated with the right.

posted by Ace at 02:52 PM

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