The body of Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks has disappeared, a congressman said this week in a report accusing the FBI of conducting a “scorched earth” investigation.
Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican who was appointed to the bipartisan commission investigating the attempted assassination, attempted to view Crooks’ body on August 5 as part of his own personal inspection.
Higgins said his desire to do so “caused quite a stir and was a disturbing fact.”
It was then that he learned that the FBI had released the body for cremation ten days after the attempted murder.
“Why would the FBI then release his body to the family for cremation?” Higgins asked.
The body of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who attempted to assassinate former President Trump, was returned to his family for cremation just 10 days after the shooting
The FBI has released Crooks’ body just 10 days after his attempted assassination of former President Trump
Crooks, 20, opened fire at a Trump rally on July 13, piercing former President Trump’s ear, killing one attendee and wounding two others.
A conspicuous lack of social media presence and digital traces of the shooter left authorities without a motive, but Higgins tried to determine one.
On July 23, ten days after the shooting, “Crooks was gone,” the congressman wrote.
The Louisiana congressman accused the FBI of “obstruction” and said “we will never know” whether the autopsy report is accurate.
Higgins claimed that the Butler County coroner had “legal authority” over the body.
However, after speaking with the coroner, Higgins determined that he “would never have released Crook’s body to the family for cremation or burial without specific authorization from the FBI.”
Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican who was appointed to the bipartisan commission investigating the attempted assassination, attempted to view Crooks’ body on Aug. 5 as part of his own personal investigation.
In his report, the legitimacy of which is unclear, the Republican congressman claims that the coroner’s report and the autopsy were both prepared “too late.”
“On Monday, August 5, they were a week late,” he wrote.
He continued, “The problem with not being able to examine the body myself is that I don’t know 100 percent that the coroner’s report and the autopsy report are accurate. We’ll never really know.”
“We get the reports and the photographs, etc., but I will never be able to say for sure whether those reports and photographs are accurate based on my own examination of the body.”
Before being elected to the House in 2016, Higgins worked as a police officer in Louisiana.
In November 2023, he suggested that the January 6 violence at the Capitol was caused by agents deployed by the FBI in “ghost buses.”
By July 23, “Crooks was gone,” Higgins wrote. “No one knew this until Monday, August 5, including the county coroner, police, sheriff, etc.”
Higgins also attended and spoke at events organized by groups such as the Three Percenters and the Oath Keepers.
On July 29, 2024, the Louisiana congressman was named as one of seven Republican members of a bipartisan group tasked with investigating the attempted assassination of Trump.
The task force consists of 13 members – seven Republicans and six Democrats. Its mission is to determine what went wrong on the day of the assassination attempt and to make recommendations to prevent future security breaches.
The task force will issue a final report by December 13.
In his own personal report, separate from the task force, Higgins was critical of the FBI.
On July 29, 2024, the Louisiana congressman was appointed one of seven Republican members of a bipartisan group charged with investigating the attempted assassination of Trump
The task force consists of 13 members – seven Republicans and six Democrats. Its mission is to determine what went wrong on the day of the assassination attempt and to make recommendations to prevent future security breaches.
“Again, similar to declassifying the crime scene and erasing biological evidence from the crime scene… this action by the FBI can only be described by any reasonable person as an obstruction of any subsequent investigation,” he wrote.
Higgins stated that on July 23, the day Crooks was cremated, “the Homeland Security Committee and the Oversight Committee began an investigation into the jurisdiction of the House Committee [the assassination attempt].
“Speaker Johnson had already stated that he was forming an official Congressional investigating agency. Why, in what way, would the FBI release his body to the family for cremation?”
The Louisiana representative added: “This pattern of investigative practices by the FBI is deeply troubling.”
Higgins has described his own research as a “boots on the ground” approach.
Higgins has attended and spoken at events organized by groups such as the Three Percenters and the Oath Keepers
On August 12, he submitted his findings to Task Force Chairman Mike Kelly (R-PA).
However, the report had been under embargo for several days.
“As I said, every question will be answered, every theory will be investigated, and every doubt will be dispelled. The American people deserve the complete truth about the attempted assassination of President Trump,” Higgins said.
“Our investigative efforts are proceeding in good faith. The release of my preliminary investigative report reflects my desire to provide transparency and reassurance to the American people.”
