Republican lawmakers ask FBI about Nashville school shooting

Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mary Miller sent a letter to the FBI on Tuesday urging the bureau to investigate the Nashville shooting as a domestic terrorist attack.

Six people were killed at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday after 28-year-old Audrey Hale opened fire on the private Christian school before being shot dead by police. Nashville Police Chief John Drake has since reported that Hale, a transgender person, once attended private elementary school and targeted the school in a manifesto recovered by local law enforcement after the shooting massive.

Greene, of Georgia, and Miller, of Illinois, addressed the manifesto in their letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday, which was first obtained by The Daily Caller. Members of Congress also wrote in their one-page letter that Hale “identified as a member of transgender political ideology.”

“You asserted in previous congressional testimony that the FBI views domestic terrorist attacks conducted on the basis of the attacker’s race, gender, and political ideology as the greatest threat facing our nation” , reads the letter to Wray.

Lawmakers continue to ask Wray whether, based on the circumstances of the Nashville shooting and his “prior testimony” about domestic terrorism threats, “is the FBI Field Office in Memphis investigating this attack on a Christian school as a terrorist attack carried out on the basis of the ‘manifest?'”

Miller job a link to the Daily Caller’s initial report on Twitter, writing, “The FBI must treat the horrific Nashville bombing as a domestic terror attack based on the attacker’s ‘overt’ transgender policy and intentional targeting of Christians.”

green too job about the letter on his personal Twitter account. The Georgia Congressman’s account was reportedly suspended earlier today after he shared unsubstantiated information about a “Trans Revenge Day”, an event allegedly planned by the Trans Radical Activist Network (TRAN). Greene and Miller specifically asked Wray in their letter if the FBI was “investigating organizations that encourage individuals to engage in violence based on political ideology, including the Internet-promoted ‘Trans Day of Vengeance’.”

Some conservative figures have claimed that the TRAN event, which was reportedly scheduled for this weekend, is linked to the shooting of The Covenant School, although there is currently no evidence to suggest that Hale’s actions were motivated by their gender identity or by TRAN. Newsweek has not been able to independently verify some reports about TRAN or the event, but can confirm that the group is real and that their Twitter account, which is banned from the public, has approximately 404 followers.

Greene and Miller’s letter echoes another letter sent Tuesday by Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who called on Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to investigate the Covenant shooting as a religious hate crime.

Other high-profile conservative figures have also sparked debate by claiming gender-affirming drugs may have played a role in Monday’s mass shooting, including Greene, who previously raised questions about whether Hale was receiving such drugs. Greene and Miller asked Wray in their letter if Hale was taking medication for “hormone therapy” or “mental health”, and whether the medications might have impacted Hale’s mental and physical state.

Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana also asked Attorney General Merrick Garland if he intended to open a hate crime investigation into the shooting while the attorney general was testifying before a Senate appropriations hearing on Tuesday. afternoon.

“At this time, the motive has not been identified,” Garland replied, adding that the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were working with local law enforcement to investigate. the mass shooting.

“We certainly work full time with them to determine what the motive is and of course the motive is what determines whether it’s a hate crime or not,” he added.

Hale’s manifesto has not been made public. While there have been calls for law enforcement to do so, other LGBTQ+ rights groups have warned against the idea, warning of potential “serious consequences” if the writings of Hale were made public.

“While it would certainly provide some insight into the motives of this deeply troubled individual that could help shed light on the root causes, we know from tragedies like this that further glorification of the shooter could inspire others to take similar violent acts to get attention,” Charles Moran, National President of the Log Cabin Republicans, previously said. Newsweek.

Newsweek contacted the FBI’s National Press Office via email for comment.