By Heather Gann
al.com
WASHINGTON — Former Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks has joined House Majority Leader Steve Scalise in praising the FBI for reclassifying a politically motivated shooting the two survived in 2017.
On June 14, 2017, Brooks was one of the attendees at a Congressional baseball practice when a shooter opened fire, injuring five people, including Scalise.
Amid the bullets, Brooks was among those rushing to help the victims, removing his belt to provide a tourniquet for Zack Barth, a congressional aide who was shot in the leg, and helped attend Scalise, who was shot in the hip.
Although it was originally declared a “suicide by cop,” the FBI, under the direction of Trump pick Kash Patel, has recently reclassified it as an act of domestic terrorism, Scalise announced Monday.
“I was offended,” Scalise told CSPAN reporters.
“I think all of us there were offended that that was the conclusion that the FBI came to in 2017. Because it wasn’t what happened on the baseball field.”
“He went there with the intention of killing all of us,” he continued.
Scalise went on to allege that Patel’s updated report revealed evidence that had been suppressed for “politically motivated reasons.”
When pressed for the reasons, Scalise said he didn’t know.
He expressed hopes that the FBI would investigate the issue further.
Brooks said he was also “very much surprised” at the FBI’s original decision.
“Everybody in Congress knew that it was not suicide by cop back in 2017 when all this took place,” Brooks said Tuesday.
“That knowledge was buttressed by a private meeting I and five other congressmen had with the FBI in which they showed to us the reported assassins target list that gave the age and physical descriptions of each of six conservative congressmen that the assassin had hopes of killing.”
“Someone who just wants to commit suicide by cop does not take the time and effort to formulate that kind of detailed target list,” he continued.
Brooks and Trump have a rocky history that includes the president pulling his endorsement from Brooks during his U.S. Senate run and allegations of the former congressman’s involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.
Brooks left office in 2022 after six terms in Congress and a federal judge threw out a lawsuit seeking to hold Brooks responsible for his remarks at a “Stop the Steal,” rally on Jan. 6 .
Despite their past run ins, Brooks expressed his gratitude to Trump’s leadership for updating the decision.
“It was wrong at the time the decision was made and it’s wrong today,” he said.
“But I’m thankful that this Trump FBI , in conjunction with the Republican House of Representatives, has eight years later, corrected the error by calling it what it was.”
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