FBI releases files on 2017 shooting of GOP members playing in charity baseball game

CV NEWS FEED // FBI Director Kash Patel has announced the release of long-sought documents related to the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game shooting.

“These are documents sought by Capitol Hill officials for almost 8 years,” Patel stated March 26. “Providing these documents was one of our top priorities in delivering a new FBI era of transparency.”

The attack occurred when James Thomas Hodgkinson, who was 66, opened fire at a morning practice for the annual charity fundraiser Congressional Baseball Game, according to Red State. After confirming that the group on the field consisted of Republicans, Hodgkinson — a staunch left-wing activist — fired more than 60 rounds from his rifle. 

The violent assault left Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., critically wounded and hospitalized for months. Four others were also injured.

In the years since, many have questioned why the FBI was slow to release information about the attack — an event clearly driven by political animus, Red State reported. 

In 2021, Scalise and other House Republicans publicly questioned the bureau’s original classification of the shooting as “suicide by cop.” The lawmakers called for the incident to be investigated and labeled as domestic extremism. Later that year, the FBI reclassified the shooting as an act of “domestic terrorism.”

The House Intelligence Committee, which had requested the materials, thanked Patel for releasing the records.

>> Kash Patel’s FBI delivers key records to Congress on Biden-era weaponization scandals <<