BUTLER, Pa. (TND) — A group of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers on the House task force investigating the July 13 assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump visited Butler, Pennsylvania Monday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced the creation of the task force in Julyafter Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was grilled by the House Oversight and Accountability for the security failures that allowed a shooter to fire on Trump from a rooftop around 150 years away.
“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,” Johnson said in a post on X.
Cheatle resigned from her job shortly after the task force was announced.
"I take full responsibility for the security lapse," she said in the email to staff. "In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director."
The bipartisan task force includes 13 members, made of seven Republicans and six Democrats.
Republican lawmakers on the task force includeRep. Mark Green of Tennessee, David Joyce of Ohio, Laurel Lee of Florida, Michael Waltz of Florida, Clay Higgins of Louisiana and Pat Fallon of Texas.
Democrat members includeJason Crow of Colorado, J. Luis Correa of California, Madeleine Dean and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Glenn Ivey of Maryland and Jared Moskowitz of Florida.
During a press conference following the site visit, multiple lawmakers spoke about the importance of seeing the site from such close proximity, noting that it gave them more information to form questions for those the task force plans to subpoena.
“According to the legislation that was passed last month, we are the sole task force of jurisdiction for this House of Representatives for this investigation. And we are proceeding that way,” said Rep. Crow, saying the committee, despite another, is the one empowered by the House. “We are aware of other members conducting reviews."
"To see this area, to get an understanding of the physical space and where this security shortcoming took place," Rep. Lee said.
"There is no place for political violence, not just for candidates, but for those who want to be civically engaged, for those who came here excited to be a part of something bigger than themselves," Rep. Dean said.
Being here and seeing the proximity of the buildings, it reminds me, quite frankly, how outrageous it was that the former director of Secret Service did not come here," Rep. Moskowitz said."Getting to the truth is a slow process and for us, none of us are looking at it as we have to get a quick answer," Rep. Kelly said.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., called out the Secret Service and FBI on Sunday for "basically dragging their feet" in providing Congress with information during an interview with Fox News.
"The Secret Service, you know, FBI are basically dragging their feet. They’re stonewalling us. And we’ve gotten some transcribed interviews but the documents we request are heavily redacted, they’re delivered you know, the day of the interview so we really can’t use the documents to conduct the interviews effectively."
The Secret Service provided the following statement in response:
"The U.S. Secret Service respects Senator Ron Johnson (WI) and his position as a minority-member of the Homeland Security Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC)," Spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said. "To date, the U.S. Secret Service, as part of an ongoing rolling production has provided over 1,000 pages of responsive documentation to the HSGAC. Additionally, the U.S. Secret Service over the course of the past two weeks has made employees available to committee staff for transcribed interviews and will continue to do so moving forward."
"Our desire to learn from this failure and ensure that it never happens again is unwavering and we welcome respective oversight efforts such as those by the HSGAC."
At least five Secret Service members were placed on leave Friday in the wake of the assassination attempt.
The FBI called Sen. Johnson's statement "inaccurate and unfounded."
"Any suggestion the FBI is interfering with congressional efforts to look into the attempted assassination which took place in Butler, Pennsylvania, is inaccurate and unfounded. The FBI has been working closely with our law enforcement partners to conduct a thorough investigation into the shooting, and we have followed normal procedures in the handling of the crime scene and evidence. The FBI continues its painstaking work on the investigation to develop as complete a picture as possible of what led to the shooting, and we remain committed to maximum transparency as we continue to share information with Congress, which includes participating in open hearings and conducting multiple direct briefings, and publish information for the public regarding the ongoing investigation. Specifically, the shooter's body was released to his family after coordination with the coroner's office and our state and local law enforcement partners. This is also in keeping with normal procedures."
One man in the audience was killed,former volunteer firefighter chief Corey Comperatore, and two others were severely wounded when 20-year-old Thomas Crooks opened fire on Trump, piercing his ear.
Crooks, who was spotted on the roof of the AGR complex, fired an estimated eight shots with an AR-15-style rife at the stage.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbateshared a possible motive in July saying that investigators uncovered a social media account they believe is associated with Crooks.
Crooks had over 700 comments from an account made in a 2019 and 2020 timeframe that reflected antisemitic and anti-immigration themes.
Abbatte said the comments "espouse political violence and are described as extreme in nature."
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