The body of the 20-year-old who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump was "gone" when Rep. Clay Higgins tried to inspect it as part of an investigation into the shooting, the congressman revealed in a preliminary investigation report.
Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot dead by the Secret Service after he opened fire from a rooftop while Trump was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
The former president sustained an ear injury, while a bystander was killed and two other people injured.
Higgins, a Louisiana Republican who is on the House task force investigating the shooting, detailed some of his findings after a three-day trip to Butler earlier in August.
In the report, Higgins wrote that he had attempted to examine Crooks' body, but was unable to do so, and alleged the FBI was obstructing further investigative efforts.
"My effort to examine Crooks' body on Monday, August 5, caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact … the FBI released the body for cremation 10 days after J13," Higgins wrote in the report. "On J23, Crooks was gone. Nobody knew this until Monday, August 5, including the County Coroner, law enforcement, Sheriff, etc."
Higgins said the Butler County Coroner "technically had legal authority over the body, but I spoke with the Coroner, and he would have never released Crooks' body to the family for cremation or burial without specific permission from the FBI."
He also wrote that "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."
Newsweek has contacted the Butler County Coroner and the FBI for comment via email. Higgins' office has been contacted for comment via email.
Higgins' report also noted that both the coroner's report and the autopsy report are "late."
"The problem with me not being able to examine the actual body is that I won't know 100 percent if the coroner's report and the autopsy report are accurate. We will actually never know," he wrote. "Yes, we'll get the reports and pictures, etc, 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 submitted his report to Rep. Mike Kelly, the chairman of the task force, on Monday, his office said in a news release on Thursday. It details some of the congressman's findings so far, but is "not exhaustive, nor final," the release said.
"As I have said, every question will be answered, every theory explored, and every doubt erased. The American people deserve the full truth on the attempted assassination of President Trump," Higgins said in a statement.
"Our investigative efforts are moving forward in good faith. The release of my preliminary investigative report is reflective of my desire to deliver transparency and reassurance to the American people."
Update 8/16/24, 7:40 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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