FBI Director Kash Patel announced this week that he has provided Congress with the long-awaited bureau records on the 2017 congressional baseball game shooting after House Republicans had accused the bureau of obstructing investigations by labeling the incident “suicide by cop” rather than categorizing it as domestic terrorism.
On June 14, 2017, James Hodgkinson—an extreme left-wing activist living out of a van in northern Virginia—opened fire on Republicans at a baseball field in Alexandria in an early morning attack after asking departing GOP congressmen whether the players were Republicans or Democrats. GOP Congressman Steve Scalise was nearly fatally wounded in the attack, which began after Hodgkinson inquired about the political affiliations of the players before launching his assault.
Republican lawmakers have long condemned the FBI’s 2017 decision—made under acting director Andrew McCabe—not to classify Hodgkinson’s attack as domestic terrorism, despite the fact that it specifically targeted Republican leaders during their practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game. Instead, the bureau described the incident as “suicide by cop,” a designation it maintained until 2021 without ever providing a full explanation, Just the News reported.
“I can report that as of 30 minutes ago, the FBI has provided the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence all requested documents related to the Congressional Baseball Game shooting in 2017,” Patel declared on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Wednesday. “These are documents sought by Capitol Hill officials for almost 8 years. Providing these documents was one of our top priorities in delivering a new FBI era of transparency. Thank you to the committee and Chairman Rep. Rick Crawford for your partnership in getting Americans the truth.”
During a Wednesday hearing, Congressman Trent Kelly, vice chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, informed Patel that Congress had sent letters to the FBI in both 2023 and 2024 requesting details about the baseball game shooting. “I know you will give us with what we asked for so we can put this matter to rest,” he said. Crawford, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, soon announced during the Wednesday hearing that “I just got notice that the baseball shooting report… has been delivered to our SCIF” — the committee’s Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility.
“The 2017 shooting at the Republican’s Congressional baseball practice was a jarring and very personal moment for all of us. House Intel Republicans have been requesting the complete FBI report on the shooting for years. I appreciate Director Patel’s swift follow through on his commitment—a welcome change from the FBI. Director Patel did in hours what previous FBI leadership couldn’t do in 8 years,” Crawford told Just the News.
“I really appreciate that Kash Patel is making that available… They had initially classified it, the FBI did, as ‘suicide by cop.’ Now here is a guy who went to the baseball field specifically looking to shoot and kill every Republican on the ballfield… How can you call that suicide by cop when he was trying to kill all of us, including the police officers?” Scalise told “The Alec Lace Show” in an interview posted Thursday. “We were offended and just alarmed at the FBI back in 2017. … We were very curious how the FBI came to some of those conclusions, but then they redacted so many items in that report. Now we’re going to get the full, unredacted report.”
While firing indiscriminately at GOP members practicing for a baseball game, Hodgkinson’s gunfire hit several targets: he struck Congressman Scalise in the hip, lobbyist Matt Mika in the chest, and injured Capitol Police officers Crystal Griner and David Bailey. Scalise nearly bled to death and underwent multiple surgeries before returning to Congress. Notably, the shooter—killed by police—had even recorded the names of GOP congressmen.