Congressman Claims FBI is Covering Up the Trump Shooting Incident
The FBI permitted the cremation of the body of alleged shooter Matthew Crooks, according to a member of Congress looking into the incident. Read Full Article at RT.com.
TroibNews 
The FBI's decision to permit the cremation of the alleged shooter's body has been described as a potential cover-up, according to U.S. Congressman Clay Higgins.
Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot and killed by the U.S. Secret Service on July 13 after he opened fire on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the incident, Crooks killed one bystander and injured Trump along with two attendees.
Higgins, a Louisiana Republican with a background in law enforcement and a member of the congressional Task Force investigating the attempted assassination, visited Butler earlier this month to assess the crime scene. He publicly shared details of his findings in a report released on Thursday.
“My effort to examine Crooks’ body on Monday, August 5, caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact,” Higgins wrote in the report. “The FBI released the body for cremation 10 days after J13. On J23, Crooks was gone. Nobody knew this until Monday, August 5, including the County Coroner, law enforcement, Sheriff, etc.”
Higgins pointed out that the county coroner “would have never released Crooks’ body to the family for cremation or burial without specific permission from the FBI.” As of August 5, the coroner’s and autopsy reports were incomplete, leading Higgins to argue that without access to the body, the accuracy of these reports could not be verified. He characterized the FBI's actions as “an obstruction to any following investigative effort.”
During his three-day visit to Butler, Higgins dedicated approximately 20 hours to investigating the crime scene. His findings disclosed that Crooks fired eight shots from the roof of a building overlooking the event, with a ninth shot hitting Crooks' rifle from a Butler SWAT operator, and a tenth shot from a Secret Service sniper resulting in his death.
Higgins relayed that the FBI still possesses the casings from the roof but had “released the crime scene” after just three days, cleaning up blood and other biological evidence according to the report.
Crooks ascended to the roof not via a ladder, but by using an air conditioning unit. Higgins noted that Crooks appeared to be aware of how to position himself to minimize visibility to Secret Service snipers, highlighting that such counter-snipers are usually not assigned to former presidents.
“I have not yet investigated Crooks’ origins, how he came to be a shooter, how he manufactured a remote trigger bomb, etc. I have not reviewed the harvested evidence, nor have I examined his home, his vehicle, spoken with his family, his neighbors, his classmates, examined his computer, his emails, or his closet,” Higgins wrote, pledging to pursue these lines of inquiry.
Sanya Singh contributed to this report for TROIB News
Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot and killed by the U.S. Secret Service on July 13 after he opened fire on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the incident, Crooks killed one bystander and injured Trump along with two attendees.
Higgins, a Louisiana Republican with a background in law enforcement and a member of the congressional Task Force investigating the attempted assassination, visited Butler earlier this month to assess the crime scene. He publicly shared details of his findings in a report released on Thursday.
“My effort to examine Crooks’ body on Monday, August 5, caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact,” Higgins wrote in the report. “The FBI released the body for cremation 10 days after J13. On J23, Crooks was gone. Nobody knew this until Monday, August 5, including the County Coroner, law enforcement, Sheriff, etc.”
Higgins pointed out that the county coroner “would have never released Crooks’ body to the family for cremation or burial without specific permission from the FBI.” As of August 5, the coroner’s and autopsy reports were incomplete, leading Higgins to argue that without access to the body, the accuracy of these reports could not be verified. He characterized the FBI's actions as “an obstruction to any following investigative effort.”
During his three-day visit to Butler, Higgins dedicated approximately 20 hours to investigating the crime scene. His findings disclosed that Crooks fired eight shots from the roof of a building overlooking the event, with a ninth shot hitting Crooks' rifle from a Butler SWAT operator, and a tenth shot from a Secret Service sniper resulting in his death.
Higgins relayed that the FBI still possesses the casings from the roof but had “released the crime scene” after just three days, cleaning up blood and other biological evidence according to the report.
Crooks ascended to the roof not via a ladder, but by using an air conditioning unit. Higgins noted that Crooks appeared to be aware of how to position himself to minimize visibility to Secret Service snipers, highlighting that such counter-snipers are usually not assigned to former presidents.
“I have not yet investigated Crooks’ origins, how he came to be a shooter, how he manufactured a remote trigger bomb, etc. I have not reviewed the harvested evidence, nor have I examined his home, his vehicle, spoken with his family, his neighbors, his classmates, examined his computer, his emails, or his closet,” Higgins wrote, pledging to pursue these lines of inquiry.
Sanya Singh contributed to this report for TROIB News
