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GOP Rep blasts FBI for releasing body of Trump rally shooter for cremation before probe, cleaning crime scene

August 16, 2024 | | Print Article

The FBI is under fire again for activities related to the July assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

A decision to release the body of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks to his family only days after the July 13 Pennsylvania rally was blasted by U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins. The Louisiana Republican revealed that he learned of the “disturbing” move when he requested to examine the body in Butler where the rally was held.

“My overall mission was to personally observe and investigate the available crime scene site, along with consideration of both anticipated and unanticipated interactions with witnesses, the crime scene landscape, hard evidence, corroborative evidence, and circumstantial evidence,” Higgins wrote in his “Preliminary Investigative Report” for the Congressional July 13 Task Force.

The four-term congressman wanted to investigate the accuracy of the coroner’s report and autopsy.

“My effort to examine Crooks’ body on Monday, August 5, caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact… the FBI released the body for cremation 10 days after (July 13),” he told the bipartisan committee investigating security failures around the shooting that injured Trump, David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74. Retired firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, died when he was struck trying to protect his family from the bullets.

“On J23, Crooks was gone. Nobody knew this until Monday, August 5, including the County Coroner, law enforcement, Sheriff, etc.,” Higgins noted.

The FBI’s actions were blasted “as an obstruction to any following investigative effort,” the lawmaker wrote, noting that the Butler County Coroner would “have never released Crooks’ body to the family for cremation or burial without specific permission from the FBI.”

“We will actually never know. Yes, we’ll get the reports and pictures, etc, but I will not ever be able to say with certainty that those reports and pictures are accurate according to my own examination of the body,” Higgins pointed out.

He further slammed the agency for actions that were “unheard of” in investigations.

“The FBI cleaned up biological evidence from the crime scene, which is unheard of,” Higgins wrote. “Cops don’t do that, ever.”

“I interviewed several First Responders who expressed everything from surprise to dismay to suspicion regarding the fact that the FBI released the crime scene so early after J13,” the GOP lawmaker said.

Higgins noted that the FBI was not uninformed when making the controversial decisions.

“It should be noted that the FBI was fully aware of the fact that Congress would be investigating J13,” he wrote. “The FBI does not exist in a vacuum. They had to know that releasing the J13 crime scene would injure the immediate observations of any following investigation.”

Crooks had “perfectly positioned himself (on the roof) to minimize the threat of counter-fire from the ground or the US Secret Service counter-sniper teams,” Higgins noted.

He added that the 20-year-old shooter “effectively minimized the sky-lined profile of his head and upper body” as he fired eight shots.

“The 9th shot fired on J13 was from a Butler SWAT operator from the ground about 100 yards away from the AGR building. Shot 9 hit Crooks’ rifle stock and fragged his face/neck/right shoulder area from the stock breaking up,” Higgins explained, calling the SWAT operator who took this shot a “total badass.”

“The 10th (and, I believe, final) shot was fired from the USSS southern counter-sniper team,” the report stated. “Which, according to my investigation, entered somewhere around the left mouth area and exited the right ear area.”

Frieda Powers
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