FBI fumbled investigation into shooting of Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, GOP report says

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The FBI bungled the investigation into the 2017 shooting that wounded House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and others, downplaying the attacker's leftwing political motivations, a GOP-led congressional committee reported Tuesday.

Republicans on the committee said criminal charges should be pursued against agents and others involved with the conclusions the FBI initially reached. Democrats pushed back, saying no evidence showed that those investigating the shooting were swayed by political considerations.

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“The FBI used false statements, manipulation of known facts, and biased and butchered analysis to support a narrative that (shooter James T. "Tom") Hodgkinson committed suicide by cop without any nexus to domestic terrorism,” concluded GOP members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence after reviewing 2,500 pages of the FBI’s case file.

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Scalise, R-Jefferson agreed, saying in a statement: “This report definitively shows the FBI completely mishandled the investigation into the Congressional baseball shooting of 2017 — ignoring crucial and obvious facts in order to sell a false narrative that the shooting was not politically motivated."

Scalise thanked Patel and committee members for "finally getting to the truth of the matter: This was a deliberate and planned act of domestic terrorism toward Republican members of Congress."

Scalise continued, "I encourage director Patel to adopt the recommendations of the Committee to ensure the intelligence community is rid of bias and to identify who was responsible for the misleading and incorrect conclusions and why, and ensure the FBI gets back to its mission of following the facts, wherever they may lead.”

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