BUTLER, Pa. — A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers serving on a task force investigating the assassination attempt on former President Trump is scheduled to visit the site of a shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Monday, marking the second time some of them have visited the site since the July 13 incident.
On August 4, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced the creation of a special committee to investigate the assassination attempt on President Trump and nominated Republican Senator Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania to serve as the committee’s chairman.
“We have the utmost confidence that this solid, highly competent and capable bipartisan group of lawmakers will act swiftly to uncover the facts, ensure accountability, and ensure that failures like this never happen again,” Johnson and Jeffries said in a statement at the time.
According to the task force’s website, its goals are “to understand what happened on the day of the assassination attempt,” “to ensure accountability,” and “to prevent such institutional failures from happening again.”
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House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) spoke to reporters at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 22, 2024. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Republican members of the task force include Kerry, Reps. Mark Green of Tennessee, David Joyce of Ohio, Laurel Lee of Florida, Michael Walz of Florida, Clay Higgins of Louisiana and Pat Fallon of Texas.
Democrats include Jason Crow of Colorado, J. Luis Correa of California, Madeleine Dean and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Glenn Ivey of Maryland and Jared Moskowitz of Florida.
The visit came just days after Fox News confirmed that at least five US Secret Service agents had been placed on administrative leave, more than a month after the attempted assassination at a Trump campaign rally on July 13, when the gunman fired a shot at Trump, grazing him in the ear, killing one man in the crowd and critically wounding two others.
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A new video from James Copenhaver, one of the victims seriously injured in the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Trump, shows a figure moving across a rooftop minutes before shots rang out at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. (James Copenhaver)
Police officers surround Thomas Crooks on the roof of the AGR after an anti-sniper shot him dead. (Butler Township Police Department)
The task force wants to hear from informants and whistleblowers to determine how the 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Crooks, managed to scale HVAC equipment and pipes to reach the roof of the nearby American Glass Research (AGR) building, where he hid before opening fire at about 6:11 p.m.
The FBI said at a July press conference that Crooks was carrying a DPMS AR-15-style gun with a folding stock when he entered the Butler Farm Show, where Trump was holding a campaign rally.
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Drone footage shows lawmakers climbing to the roof of the AGR building where Thomas Crooks had positioned himself to shoot President Trump. (Fox News Digital)
The Trump campaign announced the Butler rally on July 3. Crooks signed up for the rally three days later, on July 6, the same day he investigated how far Lee Harvey Oswald was from President Kennedy when he assassinated him in 1963. According to the FBI, Crooks went to the rally site on July 7 and spent about 20 minutes in the area.
Crooks allegedly became interested in guns around 2023 when he began taking shooting lessons, and in the spring of 2023, he made 25 purchases of guns online using false names.
Crooks’ father legally purchased and legally transferred to his son the AR-15-style rifle used by Crooks at the rally, and Crooks also legally purchased 50 rounds of ammunition from a local gun store the morning of the rally.
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Thomas Crooks attended a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (Senator Ron Johnson)
On the day of the rally, July 13, Crooks parked his car and flew the drone between 3:50 and 4:00 p.m., about 200 yards from where the former president was scheduled to speak. FBI Director Christopher Wray At a congressional hearing on July 17, Crooks testified that he was at the rally for about 70 minutes on the morning of the assassination attempt.
It remains unclear how Crooks managed to evade security despite being spotted by police more than an hour before shots rang out, but the FBI said more than 300 agents and agents were working “around the clock” to gather facts and put together a clearer timeline of Crooks’ actions.
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Investigators found eight bullets on the roof where Crooks opened fire, they said in a phone interview.
Police authorities first reported seeing a suspicious person near the rally at approximately 5:10 pm on July 13, one hour and one minute before Crooks began shooting. Local police authorities notified headquarters about the suspicious person, and the Secret Service confirmed that they were aware of the suspicious person’s presence.
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The map details locations of interest in the investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Trump on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Senator Chuck Grassley)
Over the next hour, police identified the suspect and a sniper took photos of Crooks and his bicycle near the rally. Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who was briefed on the assassination attempt, previously told Fox News Digital that a sniper had “seen” a suspicious person about 20 minutes before Crooks began firing.
Trump took the podium at around 6 p.m., an hour after he was scheduled to speak. Eleven minutes later, The crook fired multiple bullets.Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed and David Duch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, were seriously injured. Both were hospitalized and have since been released.
Watch video: Pennsylvania police ask why no one was on roof
Greene, Kelly, Higgins and Correa visited the site of the assassination attempt with the House Homeland Security Committee on July 24.
Kelly, a local resident, previously told Fox News Digital that it was unclear why the former president was allowed on stage when authorities had been aware of a suspicious person’s presence hours before.
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Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) spoke to reporters at the Butler Agricultural Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 22, 2024. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
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“If there was any belief that there was a suspicious individual here, why did we allow President Trump to take the podium … and why did we proceed with the plan,” he said during the visit on July 24. “I was there, I saw the president fall, I saw over my left shoulder Corey fall. It was a terrible day for the American people. And several other gentlemen who were sitting across from the president were also hit by bullets. It was a bad day for America.”
FBI officials are investigating whether Crooks had a motive for the assassination attempt and whether he had any co-conspirators, but said they have no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved.
