Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on July 23 announced the formation of a House Task Force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
The announcement follows the July 13 shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which the former president and 2024 Republican nominee was shot in the ear. One rallygoer was killed and another two were injured in the shooting.
“The security failures that allowed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life are shocking,” Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jeffries said in a joint statement.
“In response to bipartisan demands for answers, we are announcing a House Task Force made up of seven Republicans and six Democrats to thoroughly investigate the matter. The task force will be empowered with subpoena authority and will move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability, and make certain such failures never happen again.”
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was grilled on July 22 by the House Oversight Committee over the security failure at the July 13 rally, an incident which Ms. Cheatle agreed was the greatest security failure by the agency since the 1981 assassination attempt of President Ronald Reagan.
The results of that hearing were bipartisan calls for Ms. Cheatle to resign from her post after she “repeatedly failed to answer basic questions from Republicans and Democrats related to stunning operational failures that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump,” according to a committee press release.
In closing remarks at the hearing, Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) issued a joint letter calling on Ms. Cheatle to resign. The two leaders also said that the Oversight Committee would work with Mr. Johnson’s task force to investigate the security failure.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jeffries said the goal of the newly announced task force is to understand what went wrong on the day of the attempted assassination, to ensure accountability, and to prevent such an agency failure from ever happening again, according to the announcement.
The task force will use its findings to “make recommendations for reform to the relevant government agencies and recommend any necessary legislation to implement the reforms,” according to the joint statement.
The leaders said an official resolution to establish the task force and its members will be voted on this week.
