A new report from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), released Tueasday, sharply criticizes the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s initial investigation into the 2017 shooting attack on Republican lawmakers at a baseball practice, alleging the bureau engaged in a “concerted campaign to dismiss, downplay, and distort” the attacker’s motives and wrongly concluded there was no nexus to domestic terrorism.
U.S. Representative Greg Steube (R-Fla.) issued a statement endorsing the HPSCI report’s findings, calling on current FBI Director Kash Patel to implement the committee’s recommendations and hold accountable those responsible for the initial handling of the case.
READ: REAL ID Deadline Looms: Tomorrow, May 7, 2025, Marks Full Enforcement
The shooting occurred on June 14, 2017, at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Virginia, where James T. Hodgkinson opened fire on Republican members of Congress and staff practicing for an annual charity baseball game.
The attack injured several people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a congressional aide, a lobbyist, and two U.S. Capitol Police officers who were part of Scalise’s security detail and ultimately engaged Hodgkinson, who was fatally wounded.
According to the HPSCI Majority Staff Report, titled “Majority Staff Report on the FBI’s Conclusions on the 2017 Congressional Baseball Shooting,” the FBI issued a press release just seven days after the attack stating there was “no nexus to terrorism” and that Hodgkinson’s motive “most aligns with an act of ‘suicide by cop.’”
The HPSCI report alleges this initial conclusion was based on “false statements and manipulation of known facts” and that the FBI’s investigation was “incomplete and substandard.” Among the criticisms, the report claims the FBI failed to substantively interview all shooting victims and eyewitnesses, did not develop a comprehensive timeline of events, and improperly classified the case file.
READ: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Says AOC’s Latest Stunt Deserves DOJ Attention
The report argues that the FBI’s own case file contained significant evidence pointing to a domestic terrorism motive, which the bureau allegedly ignored or downplayed in 2017. This evidence included:
- Handwritten notes from Hodgkinson expressing strong anti-Republican and anti-Trump sentiments and stating intentions to “show the people how to win back the power of the people” and make a “statement in my life before the end.”
- A handwritten list of six Republican congressmen with physical descriptions and office addresses.
- Hodgkinson’s membership in a Facebook group titled “Terminate The Republican Party.”
- Statements from family and friends indicating Hodgkinson was going to Washington D.C. to “protest” and influence policy, and that he hated Republicans.
- Hodgkinson having cased the baseball field months before the attack, taking numerous photographs.
The HPSCI report dismisses the FBI’s initial “suicide by cop” determination as illogical, noting that there were no uniformed police present when the shooting began and that Hodgkinson took actions like concealing himself and planning to return home, which contradict a pure suicide motive. The report emphasizes that being willing to die (as in suicide) is not mutually exclusive with being a domestic terrorist, citing examples like the 9/11 attackers.
“As we approach the eight-year anniversary of the congressional baseball shooting, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has brought to light the FBI’s corruption and mismanagement of their investigation of the attack,” Steube said. He described Hodgkinson as a “radical, left-wing political extremist, seeking to affect the conduct of government by assassinating Republican congressmen.”
READ :Florida Rep. Steube Intros Resolution Authorizing Military Force Against Mexican Drug Cartels
Steube accused the “Deep State” of trying to “twist the realities of a tragedy to fit their own agenda” and praised the House Intel Committee for letting “facts and evidence guide their investigation.” He called on FBI Director Kash Patel to “swiftly implement the committee’s recommendations… to hold accountable those officials who peddled falsehoods to the American people.”
The HPSCI report notes that the FBI did eventually change its stance. In testimony to the House Appropriations Committee in April 2021 and in a May 2021 report, the FBI stated that the shooter was motivated by a desire to attack Members of Congress and characterized the conduct as a “domestic terrorism event” or a “Domestic Violent Extremist (DVE)” attack.
However, the HPSCI report contends this reclassification came “four years too late” and was based on no new information, suggesting the initial decision was politically motivated rather than based on an apolitical commitment to the facts.
The HPSCI Majority report makes several recommendations, including that Director Patel review how the 2017 decision was made, investigate why substantive witness interviews were not conducted, take action for accountability and procedural deficiencies, assess current domestic extremist threats, and consider legislation establishing criminal liability for the politicization of intelligence analysis by both senior officials and analysts.
READ: Florida Rep. Brian Mast Intros Bill To Standardize School Emergency Maps For First Responders
Minority views included in the report concur that the attack was a domestic terror attack and that the FBI was too slow to make that public determination. However, the Minority disagrees that the report provides evidence that political considerations caused the initial delay, noting that the reclassification occurred after a change in administration.
The Minority also “strongly disagrees” with the recommendation to consider criminal charges against intelligence analysts, arguing it lacks predicate and could chill objective analysis.
The report and Rep. Steube’s statement place renewed scrutiny on the FBI’s handling of the high-profile attack and raise broader questions about the integrity and potential influence on intelligence assessments within the bureau.
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Connect with us: Follow the Tampa Free Press on Facebook and Twitter for breaking news and updates.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox.
