The U.S. House of Representatives has unveiled its new bipartisan task force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, which will mostly be staffed by lawmakers with experience in the military, law enforcement or those with prosecutorial experience.
🧵Today, I’m announcing the seven Republicans who will serve on the Bipartisan House Task Force to investigate the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump. We have the utmost confidence in this group of steady, highly qualified, and capable Members of Congress:
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 29, 2024
Shockingly, there was a bipartisan outcry in Congress over the numerous failures of law enforcement during the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Lawmakers like Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) spoke out against former Secret Service director Kim Cheatle, who later resigned in disgrace after facing harsh questions from both sides of the aisle during congressional testimony.
Great line of questioning by @RoKhanna
Khanna: Do you know what the head of secret service did after Reagan was shot?
Cheatle: He stayed on.
Khanna: No, he resigned.
She thought she'd get a softball question because he's a Democrat. The call for her resignation is bipartisan. pic.twitter.com/gG09RK5FSi
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) July 22, 2024
Even radical leftist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tore into Cheatle on the House floor.
Credit where credit is due to @AOC for ripping Cheatle:
"The idea that a report will be finalized in 60 days, let alone prior to any actionable decisions that would be made, is simply not acceptable. It has been 10 days since an assassination attempt on a former president.” pic.twitter.com/qc8JOKLxia
— Elizabeth Weibel (@elfaddis) July 22, 2024
Now, the bipartisan outrage will fuel an investigation into the incident — where lawmakers will try to determine how the Secret Service failed so badly as to let an assassin climb onto a rooftop just over 100 yards away from Trump with a rifle, despite identifying him as a potential threat at least 90 minutes before the assassination attempt that injured Trump and two others, and killed former firefighter Corey Comperatore.
Corey Comperatore identified as spectator killed during Trump rally shooting.
Corey was a 50 year-old former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company.
In social media posts, Corey Comperatore’s family mourned his loss.
His wife wrote that the rally was meant to be… pic.twitter.com/s7IZP4cUND
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) July 14, 2024
The task force will be chaired by Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), who represents the district where the assassination attempt took place. Kelly, who authored the resolution that created the task force, reportedly has longstanding ties to the law enforcement community in his district.
.@MikeKellyPA represents Pennsylvania’s 16th District and resides in his hometown of Butler, the location of the assassination attempt. He has longstanding ties to the local law enforcement community, is the author of the resolution creating the Task Force and will serve as its…
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 29, 2024
The ranking member on the task force will be Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO). The Republican members of the task force will be Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), along with Reps. David Joyce (R-OH), Laurel Lee (R-FL), Michael Waltz (R-FL), Clay Higgins (R-LA) and Pat Fallon (R-TX). The Democrat members of the task force will be Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Glenn Ivey (D-MD) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). The task force was unanimously approved last week in a 416-0 vote.
Many of the task force members have past careers that will aid them in the investigation. Green is a former Army major, combat veteran and emergency room physician. Joyce previously worked as an attorney and county prosecutor, while Lee is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, a former judge on Florida’s 13th Judicial Circuit and former Florida Secretary of State. Waltz served in the Army Special Forces and previously worked as an advisor in the White House and Pentagon. Higgins is a former Army staff sergeant and former law enforcement officer. Fallon is also a former Air Force officer.
Meanwhile, one lawmaker was reportedly prohibited from becoming a member of the task force after the House Freedom Caucus demanded he not be selected to participate. The conservative lawmakers argued that Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the former chairman of the disgraced January 6 Select Committee, should not be allowed to participate because he previously introduced a measure to strip Trump of his Secret Service protection.
HFC Official Position: "Rep. Bennie Thompson Must Not Be Allowed To Soil
Another Investigation" pic.twitter.com/gO7KpADaxY— House Freedom Caucus (@freedomcaucus) July 24, 2024
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) issued a joint statement about the new task force, further illustrating the bipartisan nature of the investigation.
“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 statement read.
Johnson’s office confirmed that the task force would assume control of all pending House investigations and inquiries into the assassination attempt and would be granted subpoena authority. The House Speaker’s office noted that the goals of the task force are to “understand what went wrong on the day of the attempted assassination,” “ensure accountability” and “prevent such an agency failure from ever happening again.”
The lawmakers will be tasked with making “recommendations for reform to the relevant government agencies and recommend any necessary legislation to implement the reforms,” according to Johnson’s office.
