Representative Clay Higgins (R-LA) sought to examine the remains of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the individual who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump, as part of the House’s inquiry into the incident. However, he found that the shooter’s body was “missing” and that “the FBI cleaned up biological evidence from the crime scene,” which the congressman claims has “harmed” the investigation.
The FBI authorized the cremation of Crooks’ body on July 23, a mere ten days following the assassination attempt on Trump, and this information was reportedly unknown to anyone, including the Butler County coroner, law enforcement officials, and the Butler County sheriff, until August 5, according to Higgins in a report released on Monday.
“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,” the congressman said. “On [July] 23, Crooks was gone.”
“Nobody knew this until Monday, August 5, including the County Coroner, law enforcement, Sheriff, etc.,” Higgins added.
“Yes, Butler County Coroner technically had legal authority over the body, but I spoke with the Coroner, and he would have never released Crooks’ body to the family for cremation or burial without specific permission from the FBI,” the congressman clarified.
Higgins also noted, “The FBI cleaned up biological evidence from the crime scene, which is unheard of.”
“Cops don’t do that, ever,” the congressman asserted in his report.
“The FBI released the crime scene after just 3 days, much to everyone’s surprise,” Higgins observed. “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.”
“It should be noted that the FBI was fully aware of the fact that Congress would be investigating J13,” Higgins pointed out.
“The FBI does not exist in a vacuum,” he added. “They had to know that releasing the J13 crime scene would injure the immediate observations of any following investigation.”
The congressman further remarked that both the coroner’s report and the autopsy report are considered to be “late.”
“As of Monday, August 5, they were a week late,” he said. “The problem with me not being able to examine the actual body is that I won’t know 100% if the coroner’s report and the autopsy report are accurate. We will actually never know.”
