House leaders launched a bipartisan special committee to investigate the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, a day after the director of the Secret Service infuriated lawmakers by refusing to answer key questions about the case.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) announced the group on Tuesday to determine how 20-year-old suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks evaded federal and local law enforcement and fired the shot that nearly killed President Trump, and to prevent something like this from happening again.
“The security failures that allowed the assassination attempt on Donald Trump are shocking,” Johnson and Jeffries said in a statement.
“In response to bipartisan demands for answers, I have announced the creation of a House task force of seven Republicans and six Democrats to thoroughly investigate this issue,” they said.
“The task force will be empowered with subpoena power and will act swiftly to discover the facts, ensure accountability, and ensure failures like this never happen again.”
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a resolution to establish a task force on assassination attempts against President Trump.
Republicans and Democrats on Monday called for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation following a damning hearing for her before the House Oversight Committee about security failures that led to a shooting at the former president’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“On July 13, 2024, the United States Secret Service, under your command, failed to protect former President Donald Trump from the assassination attempt that took the life of Corey Comperatore and seriously injured at least two others,” Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Ranking Committee Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) wrote to Cheatle after the hearing.
“Today you have failed to answer fundamental questions about that astonishing operational failure, nor have you failed to reassure the American people that the Secret Service has learned its lessons and has begun to correct its systemic failings and failures,” they said.
“In the midst of a presidential election, the committee and the American people are earnestly seeking organizational accountability and transparency that you are failing to provide.
“We urge you to resign as Secretary as a first step to allow new leadership to quickly address this crisis and rebuild the trust of a truly concerned Congress and the American people,” the letter said.
In his opening statement, Cheatle acknowledged that the Secret Service “failed” to fulfill its “serious mission” that day and that he “takes full responsibility for any security failures,” but later refused to resign and gave agents at the campaign site an “A” rating.
She also acknowledged that Crooks’ position on the roof of the AGR International building was just 130 yards from the main stage at the Butler Farm Show and had been warned about as a “vulnerable spot” before the rally.
She added that the Secret Service had deemed the shooter a “suspicious individual” because he was wandering around the grounds with a rangefinder, but still allowed Trump to take the stage.
They also confirmed that Crooks was considered a “threat” just seconds before he opened fire from an elevated position at the manufacturing facility.
At the same time, Cheatle continued to assert the defense that the building was “outside the perimeter” of the agency’s security zone and would be unsafe for agents because it had a “sloped roof,” though he later clarified there was no policy requiring this.
“We can install a wheelchair ramp at 112. [degree] “Something fell on the roof,” Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) said, lashing out at the Secret Service director.
“You should be fired immediately and return to working security for Doritos!” he raged, apparently referring to her previous role as head of global security for PepsiCo, which owns Doritos.
Both the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General are investigating the near-catastrophic security failures that nearly led to the death of the 78-year-old Trump.
The House Homeland Security Committee began hearings with Pennsylvania law enforcement officials on Tuesday and has issued a subpoena to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for more documents.
The previous House bipartisan task force was created in February to address the alarming rise of artificial intelligence.
