Topline
A group of 13 House lawmakers will join a bipartisan panel to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump—one of many efforts to figure out what went wrong to allow a gunman to shoot at Trump at a July 13 rally in Pennsylvania, as Congress’s frustration with the Secret Service grows.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally on … [+]
Key Facts
The bipartisan task force, which has seven Republican members and six Democrats, will be led by Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., who represents the Pennsylvania district in which the shooting took place and spearheaded the resolution to create the panel, House leaders announced Monday.
The panel’s top Democrat is Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a member of the House intelligence and foreign affairs committees who also served as a Trump impeachment manager in 2019 and said in a statement Monday he will “treat (the investigation) like what it is: a solemn, urgent, and necessary responsibility.”
The creation of the committee was unanimously approved last week, and it is tasked with understanding “what went wrong on the day of the attempted assassination” and making recommendations to prevent those failings from happening again.
Former Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle called the assassination attempt the “ most significant operational failure” in decades, and questions still remain around how the shooter was able to climb onto a roof so near the rally, why he wasn’t stopped after being seen by rally attendees and what specifically happened on the day of the shooting as a solid timeline has not been presented.
Lawmakers have zeroed in on the Secret Service: Cheatle resigned last week after tense questioning by the House Oversight Committee, after which the panel’s top Democrat and top Republican said she was unable to “provide answers to basic questions regarding that stunning operational failure.”
The committee will have all investigation authority the House has, including subpoena authority, and will issue a final report by Dec. 13. on its findings and suggested legislative changes to address the failings.
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Who Else Is On The Task Force?
The other Republicans on the task force are:
- Rep. Mark Green, Tenn.
- Rep. David Joyce, Ohio
- Rep. Laurel Lee, Fla.
- Rep. Michael Waltz, Fla.
- Rep. Clay Higgins, La.
- Rep. Pat Fallon, Texas
And the other Democrats are:
- Rep. Lou Correa, Calif.
- Rep. Madeleine Dean, Pa.
- Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, Pa.
- Rep. Glenn Ivey, Md.
- Rep. Jared Moskowitz, Fla.
Key Background
The task force was approved less than two weeks after a 20-year-old gunman shot at Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump survived the attack with an ear injury, though one rally attendee was killed and two were critically injured. The shooter, who was killed by law enforcement on scene, was later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks. Crooks had once been a registered Republican, though he had donated to a Democratic organization, and he was not previously on the FBI’s radar. Details of the shooting continued to emerge in the days following it, including that local law enforcement blamed the lack of manpower and “extremely poor planning” and that Crooks had perched himself at the top of a nearby building being used as a police tactical team staging area.
What To Watch For
In addition to the House task force, there are a number of other inquiries by lawmakers, law enforcement agencies and federal agencies into what allowed for the shooting to occur.
Tangent
The FBI announced Monday Trump agreed to be interviewed by it as part of its investigation into the assassination attempt. Multiple outlets Monday reported Trump agreed to a “standard victim interview” with the FBI “to get his perspective on what he observed.” The FBI has not yet confirmed a motive for the shooting, though it’s been suggested Crooks had a “limited” social life and planned carefully ahead of the rally to conceal his efforts.
Further Reading
Israel and Hamas. Previously, she has covered a range of topics from Donald Trump’s legal battles to Taylor Swift’s path to becoming a billionaire. She joined Forbes in April 2022 and is based in Colorado. Prior to joining Forbes, Bohannon covered local news and spent time at the Fort Collins Coloradoan and the Arizona Republic. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Creighton University and has an MA in investigative journalism from Arizona State. Follow Bohannon for continued coverage of pop culture, politics and updates on the war in Gaza.
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