The FBI on Friday fired back at the Republican lawmaker who accused the agency of obstruction in Congress' investigation into the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, calling the accusation "inaccurate and unfounded."
In a statement released to multiple media outlets, the FBI took issue with the charge leveled by Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., a member of the bipartisan House task force investigating the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, who asserted that releasing the shooter's body to the family and "scrubbing" the crime scene were tantamount to obstruction.
Higgins made the claim in his preliminary report to the task force dated Aug. 12.
"Any suggestion the FBI is interfering with congressional efforts to look into the attempted assassination which took place in Butler, Pennsylvania, is inaccurate and unfounded," read a statement from the Pittsburgh FBI field office. "The FBI has been working closely with our law enforcement partners to conduct a thorough investigation into the shooting, and we have followed normal procedures in the handling of the crime scene and evidence."
Further, the FBI wrote, "We remain committed to maximum transparency as we continue to brief Congress and publish information for the public regarding the ongoing investigation."
At issue for Higgins is that he wanted to examine the body of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks himself. In his report, he wrote it was "disturbing" to learn the FBI released Crooks' body to his family 10 days after the July 13 assassination attempt.
"Again, 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," Higgins wrote.
The FBI said it kept to "normal procedures" for every part of its probe.
"The shooter's body was released to his family after coordination with the coroner's office and our state and local law enforcement partners," it wrote.
As for the crime scene itself, the FBI said it "was released to the property owners in phases as we completed our work at the AGR building, its surroundings, and at the Butler Farm Show grounds."
"The FBI arranged for the cleaning of the location where the perpetrator died which is in keeping with normal procedures," it wrote.
Conservative media personalities aren't buying it.
"It's awfully odd in a case of such importance that there would be some rush somehow to cremate the body," Rumble host Dan Bongino said, according to The Daily Mail.
Radio host Bo Snerdley said in a post on X, "Why was the decision made to quickly rid of the body? What purpose did it serve?"