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New House investigative committee investigating Trump assassination attempt – what you should know

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Top line

A group of 13 House Democrats will join a bipartisan panel to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump – one of many efforts to determine what went wrong that allowed a gunman to shoot Trump at a July 13 rally in Pennsylvania, amid growing congressional frustration with the Secret Service.

Key data

The bipartisan task force, which includes seven Republicans and six Democrats, will be led by Republican Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, who represents the Pennsylvania district where the shooting occurred. Kelly also pushed the resolution to establish the task force, House leaders announced on Monday.

The lead Democrat on the panel is Representative Jason Crow (D-Colorado), a member of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Committees who also served as the head of Trump’s impeachment inquiry in 2019. In a statement Monday, he said he would “treat (the investigation) as what it is: a serious, urgent and necessary responsibility.”

The establishment of the committee was unanimously approved last week. Its task is to find out “what went wrong on the day of the attack” and make recommendations to prevent similar failures in the future.

Former Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle called the assassination attempt the “biggest operational failure” in decades. And questions remain about how the gunman was able to climb onto a roof so close to the rally, why he was not stopped when he was seen by rally attendees, and what exactly happened on the day of the shooting, since no reliable timeline has been provided.

Lawmakers have focused on the Secret Service: Cheatle resigned last week after a tense questioning by the House Oversight Committee, after which the panel’s top Democrat and top Republican said she was unable to “provide answers to basic questions related to this astonishing operational failure.”

The committee has all the investigative powers of the House of Representatives, including the right to issue subpoenas, and will submit a final report on its findings and proposals for legislative changes to correct the failures by December 13.

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Who else is on the task force?

The other Republicans on the task force are:

  • Rep. Mark Green, Tenn.
  • Representative David Joyce, Ohio
  • Rep. Laurel Lee, Florida.
  • Rep. Michael Waltz, Florida.
  • Rep. Clay Higgins, La.
  • Rep. Pat Fallon, Texas

And the other Democrats are:

  • Rep. Lou Correa, California.
  • Rep. Madeleine Dean, Pa.
  • Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, Pa.
  • Rep. Glenn Ivey, Md.
  • Rep. Jared Moskowitz, Florida.

Important background

The task force was created less than two weeks after a 20-year-old gunman shot Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump survived the attack with an ear injury, but one rally attendee was killed and two were critically injured. The gunman, who was killed by police officers on the scene, was later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks. Crooks was once a registered Republican but had donated to a Democratic organization and had not previously been on the FBI’s radar. In the days that followed, more details of the shooting emerged, including that local police officers blamed staff shortages and “extremely poor planning” and that Crooks had taken up residence on the roof of a nearby building used as a staging area for police tactical teams.

What you should pay attention to

In addition to the House task force, there are a number of other investigations by lawmakers, law enforcement and federal agencies into the causes of the shooting.

tangent

The FBI announced Monday that Trump had agreed to be interviewed as part of the assassination investigation. Several media outlets reported Monday that Trump had agreed to a “standard interview of the victim” by the FBI “to get his side of things he witnessed.” The FBI has not yet confirmed a motive for the shooting, but it is suspected that Crooks had a “limited” social life and carefully planned ahead of the rally to conceal his efforts.

Further information

ForbesTrump agrees to an interview with the FBI as part of the assassination investigationFrom Ty RoushForbesSecret Service director resigns after Trump assassination attemptFrom Molly BohannonForbesSecret Service Director: Trump shooter was classified as ‘suspicious’ but not a ‘threat’From Ty Roush

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