{"id":2325777,"date":"2024-08-16T16:56:56","date_gmt":"2024-08-16T20:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/louisiana-lawmaker-accuses-fbi-of-obstructing-justice-and-destroying-evidence-during-investigation-into-trump-shooting-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-08-16T17:02:08","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T21:02:08","slug":"louisiana-lawmaker-accuses-fbi-of-obstructing-justice-and-destroying-evidence-during-investigation-into-trump-shooting-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/louisiana-lawmaker-accuses-fbi-of-obstructing-justice-and-destroying-evidence-during-investigation-into-trump-shooting-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Louisiana lawmaker accuses FBI of obstructing justice and destroying evidence during investigation into Trump shooting &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flouisiana-lawmaker-accuses-fbi-of-obstructing-justice-and-destroying-evidence-during-investigation-into-trump-shooting-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2325777&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Rep. Clay Higgins, a Republican from Louisiana, has raised concerns about the \u200dFBI&#8217;s handling of \u200cthe investigation into \u2062the assassination attempt on former President\u2063 Donald \u200cTrump. After conducting approximately 20 hours of investigation as part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-launches-bipartisan-task-force-for-regulating-ai\/\" title=\"Bipartisan task force formed to regulate AI by House\">bipartisan task \u200cforce<\/a>, Higgins released a preliminary report expressing alarm that the FBI \u2064allowed the body of Trump&#8217;s would-be assassin to be cremated just ten days after the shooting, suggesting that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/corrupt-media-suddenly-covers-michael-sussmanns-acquittal-after-ignoring-his-criminal-trial-for-weeks\/\" title=\"Corrupt Media Suddenly Covers Michael Sussmann\u2019s Acquittal After Ignoring His Criminal Trial For Weeks\">crucial evidence<\/a> was\u200c lost. He criticized the FBI for\u200c allegedly &#8220;cleaning up biological\u2063 evidence&#8221; from the crime scene, which he described as unusual for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-administration-limits-arrest-of-illegal-immigrants-at-courthouses\/\" title=\"Biden Administration Limits Arrest of Illegal Immigrants at Courthouses\">law enforcement practices<\/a>. The \u2063FBI defended its actions, stating that they \u2063followed &#8220;normal procedures&#8221; in consultation \u2062with the coroner&#8217;s office.\u2062 Higgins\u200d also expressed discontent regarding the FBI&#8217;s\u200d early release of the crime scene and\u200c the failure of Secret Service \u200ccountersniper teams \u200bto utilize crucial\u2064 equipment provided by local law enforcement. The agency, while asserting commitment to transparency,\u2064 faced allegations \u2062of potentially obstructing\u200c further investigative efforts.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Louisiana lawmaker accuses FBI of obstructing justice and destroying evidence during investigation into Trump shooting<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1716365\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) is concerned the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/fbi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>FBI<\/a> botched its investigation into the assassination attempt on former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a> last month.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/louisiana\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Louisiana\">Louisiana<\/a> Republican is a member of the bipartisan task force charged with probing the effort to kill Trump. He released a preliminary <a href=\"https:\/\/clayhiggins.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Preliminary-Investigative-Report-8.12.24.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>report<\/a> based on roughly 20 hours of investigation into the incident this week.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Higgins said that as he prepared to examine the body of Trump&rsquo;s would-be assassin to glean insight into the shooting, he was shocked to learn the FBI released the corpse 10 days after the shooting and allowed the body to be cremated. The House lawmaker is concerned the FBI allowed vital evidence surrounding the Butler County rally, where Trump was shot, to be eliminated.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The FBI cleaned up biological evidence from the crime scene, which is unheard of,&rdquo; Higgins wrote. &ldquo;Cops don&rsquo;t do that, ever.&rdquo; The agency, on the other hand, said the &ldquo;cleaning of the location&rdquo; was in keeping with &ldquo;normal procedures.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) makes a statement as Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee move to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas over the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 30, 2024. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The FBI repeatedly insisted it followed &ldquo;normal procedures&rdquo; in the handling of the crime scene and evidence in an email to the <em>Washington Examiner.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>While Higgins is worried the agency&rsquo;s actions amount to &ldquo;obstruction to any following investigative effort,&rdquo; the FBI said the decision came after a &ldquo;detailed, coordinated effort with the coroner&rsquo;s office.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The problem with me not being able to examine the actual body is that I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-continuous-media-covid-fear-mongering-may-backfire-and-diminish-democrat-voter-turnout\/\" title=\"The Continuous Media COVID Fear Mongering May BACKFIRE and Diminish Democrat Voter Turnout\">won&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t know 100% if the coroner&rsquo;s report and the autopsy report are accurate,&rdquo; Higgins said.<\/p>\n<p>Higgins also indicated &ldquo;surprise&rdquo; in his report that the bureau swiftly released the crime scene after three days.&nbsp;&ldquo;I interviewed several First Responders who expressed everything from surprise to dismay to suspicion regarding the fact that the FBI released the crime scene so early,&rdquo; Higgins noted.&nbsp;The agency alleges &ldquo;nothing was rushed.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The FBI continues its painstaking work on the investigation to develop as complete a picture as possible of what led to the shooting, and we remain committed to maximum transparency as we continue to brief Congress and publish information for the public regarding the ongoing investigation,&rdquo; the agency said in a statement. <\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Higgins was perturbed by his finding that Secret Service countersniper teams didn&rsquo;t use vital equipment provided to them by local law enforcement, even though Butler County police pressed them to do so.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pennsylvania police provided the countersnipers&rsquo; radios to use at the fateful rally, yet Higgins was told that they failed to pick them up, although the local authorities reminded them to do so the day before the event.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The chief of communications for the Secret Service did not deny the report in a statement to Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Action News 4.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Inter-agency communications on July 13 will be examined during the U.S. Secret Service&rsquo;s ongoing mission assurance review. The U.S. Secret Service is committed to investigating the decisions and actions of personnel related to the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump,&rdquo; Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The U.S Secret Service&rsquo;s mission assurance review is progressing, and we are examining the processes, procedures, and factors that led to this operational failure. Any identified and substantiated violations of policy committed by our personnel will be investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility for disciplinary action. The U.S. Secret Service is committed to holding our personnel accountable to the highest professional standards,&rdquo; he continued.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> reached out to Higgins&rsquo;s office and the FBI for comment.<\/p>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1716365\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1716365\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Louisiana Representative Clay Higgins (R-LA) has accused the FBI of obstructing justice and destroying evidence in their investigation of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump last month. As a member of a bipartisan task force investigating the incident, Higgins released an initial report after approximately 20 hours of inquiry. He expressed shock upon discovering that the FBI had released the body of Trump&#8217;s would-be assassin just ten days after the shooting and permitted it to be cremated, which he believes compromised crucial evidence related to the rally in Butler County where Trump was targeted. Higgins stated, &#8220;The FBI cleaned up biological evidence from the crime scene, which is unheard of; cops don\u2019t do that.&#8221; In response, the FBI maintained that their actions were consistent with &#8220;normal procedures.&#8221; While Higgins fears this may hinder future investigations, the agency claimed their decisions were made following a coordinated effort with local authorities. He also noted his concern about not being able to verify if coroner and autopsy reports are accurate without examining the body himself. Additionally, he was troubled by reports that Secret Service countersniper teams did not utilize essential equipment provided by local law enforcement despite reminders from Butler County police prior to the event. The Secret Service acknowledged they are reviewing inter-agency communications related to this operational failure and are committed to accountability for any policy violations among their personnel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3142,"featured_media":2325778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Clay-Higgins-1.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5591,6100,38368,3634],"class_list":["post-2325777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-fbi","tag-louisiana","tag-obstruction-of-justice","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Clay-Higgins-1.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2325777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2325778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2325777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2325777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2325777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}