The body of the young man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump has reportedly disappeared after the FBI conducted a thorough investigation into the shooting.
Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican and member of Congress’ bipartisan task force reviewing the assassination attempt, disclosed that when he tried to view Thomas Matthew Crooks’ body on August 5 as part of his investigation, he was informed that it was no longer there.
Crooks, aged 20, attempted to assassinate Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, managing to graze the presidential candidate’s ear.
Security on the scene quickly shot Crooks dead, and his body was taken away.
The incident was captured on camera, showing Trump raising his fist to the crowd, which became a powerful symbol for his supporters.
However, former police captain-turned-lawmaker Clay Higgins has revealed in a new report that his attempt to inspect the body of the would-be assassin uncovered a troubling fact.
The FBI had released the body for cremation just 10 days after the incident in Butler.
Higgins stated that neither local law enforcement nor the county coroner, who still had legal authority over the body, were aware that it had been sent back to the family.
Due to this, Higgins accuses the FBI of obstruction.
Secret Service Chief Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation on July 23, shortly after the assassination attempt, also caused concern.
Though Cheatle was the only high-profile resignation following the shooting, the team was still searching for answers.
Higgins described his investigation in Butler from August 4 to 6 as a ‘boots on the ground’ effort. His ‘preliminary investigative report,’ submitted to Task Force Chairman Mike Kelly on August 12 and later released on Higgins’ website, criticized the FBI’s actions.
In the report, Higgins questioned why the FBI released Crooks’s body without notifying others, especially before he could examine it himself.
He argued that this would cast doubt on the coroner’s report and the autopsy’s accuracy.
He wrote: “We will actually never know. Yes, we’ll get the reports and pictures, but I will not ever be able to say with certainty that those reports and pictures are accurate according to my own examination of the body.”
Higgins also criticized the FBI’s decision to undermine the Task Force and coroner, writing: “Similar to releasing the crime scene and scrubbing crime scene biological evidence… This action by the FBI can only be described by any reasonable man as an obstruction to any following investigative effort.”
He further shared that on the day Crooks was cremated, July 23, the Homeland Security Committee and the Oversight Committee had launched investigations into the assassination attempt.