U.S. House leaders name members of Trump assassination attempt task force

Former President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he is rushed offstage after an assassination attempt at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A bipartisan House panel will investigate security lapses in the attack. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Monday announced the 13 lawmakers who will make up the bipartisan task force investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

“We have the utmost confidence in this bipartisan group of steady, highly qualified and capable Members of Congress to move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability and help make certain such failures never happen again,” the two wrote in a joint statement.

Johnson said last week the panel will release its final report by Dec. 13, though he expects interim reports along the way. The House voted 416-0 on July 24 to establish the panel.

The task force is expected to dig deeper into the Secret Service’s plans to protect Trump ahead of his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and how exactly a gunman was able to get close enough to open fire.

The panel will be chaired by Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, who was at the rally and who represents Pennsylvania’s 16th District, where the shooting took place. He wrote in an op-ed published last week by Newsweek that he believes the task force is critical to “utilize the collective power of Congress as a tool to dig deeper and find the facts.”

“The shooting wounded Mr. Trump, took the life of Corey Comperatore, and injured two other Pennsylvanians,” Kelly wrote. “It’s important that we don’t jump to any conclusions as we begin these investigations. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get the American people the answers they deserve.”

Other Republicans on the task force include Texas Rep. Pat Fallon, Tennessee Rep. Mark Green, Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins, Ohio Rep. David Joyce and Florida Reps. Laurel Lee and Michael Waltz.

The top Democrat on the panel will be Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and a former Army Ranger. Crow said in a statement Monday that he would “help lead this bipartisan task force with Chairman Kelly to investigate and fully examine the attempted assassination of former President Trump, and I will treat it like what it is: a solemn, urgent, and necessary responsibility.”

“Political violence has no place in our democracy. Period,” Crow wrote. “We must be united in the belief as Americans, not as Republicans or Democrats, that political disagreement is settled through rigorous discourse, not violence. I am committed to working with my colleagues to conduct a thorough bipartisan investigation to collect the facts and recommend corrective security measures.”

Democrats named to the task force include California Rep. Lou Correa, Pennsylvania Reps. Madeleine Dean and Chrissy Houlahan, Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey and Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz.

Ivey, who represents the 4th District, echoed Kelly and Crow, saying in a statement that political violence is unacceptable and that, “Getting to the bottom of the security failures which allowed such an attempt is of the utmost importance.”

“Regardless of political party we must follow the facts and work with the evidence and first-hand witnesses to come to the conclusions as to how and why this happened,” Ivey’s statement said. “We will do the work necessary to present to the American people a fact-based assessment of what went wrong and what we can do better.”

Probes ongoing in Congress

Congress has already begun looking into the shooting at the Trump rally, which killed one attendee and injured two others. The gunman was killed at the scene.

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on July 22, just one day before she resigned in the wake of the assassination attempt.

Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris testified before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security the same day that Cheatle resigned.

The U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Judiciary Committee are scheduled to hold a joint hearing Tuesday on the shooting. Acting Secret Service Director Ronald L. Rowe Jr. and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate are both expected to testify at the Senate hearing.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched its own investigation into the shooting.