Mr. Wenstrup told The Washington Times on Sunday that the FBI changed Hodgkinson’s classification because he and other Republicans had protested that the bureau was minimizing an attack on the country’s legislative branch as the personal act of a troubled man.
“It’s definitely a result of the actions we’ve taken the last few weeks,” Mr. Wenstrup said.
He said FBI Director Christoper Wray telephoned him Friday and said, “I’ve got some news I want to share. We have looked at this again, and we are reclassifying it.”
At the same time, the FBI sent Mr. Wenstrup a letter that said, “The FBI considers the Simpson Field shooting an act of domestic terrorism under the umbrella of domestic violent extremism.”
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The bottom line stunned the Hodgkinson-targeted lawmakers assembled in the U.S. Capitol visitors center.
Mr. Hodgkinson was committing “suicide by cop,” the FBI briefer said. In essence, the bureau had relegated the near-mass killings aimed at Washington’s legislative branch to a self-centered personal decision by a leftist activist from Illinois.
“What are you talking about?” Rep. Brad Wenstrup, Ohio Republican, recalls asking the briefer.
“I said ‘if you want to do suicide-by-cop, just pull a gun on the cop,’” he told The Washington Times in an interview. “‘Where are you getting this?’ They just kind of stood by it. We were pretty dismayed.”