House Names Task Force for Trump Assassination Attempt Investigation

House Forms TASK FORCE for Trump INVESTIGATION

The bipartisan task group to look into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, earlier this month was introduced by the House on Monday.

 

Last Monday, the House voted 416-0 to approve the group, which would consist of six Democrats and seven Republicans. Numerous legislators selected for membership have backgrounds in the armed forces, law enforcement, or prosecution.

 

The representative from the district where the rally shooting occurred, Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), is the chosen head of the task group. He also introduced the resolution to establish it. Ranking member Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) will hold this position.

 

Mark Green (R-TN), chairman of Homeland Security, and Representatives David Joyce (R-OH), Laurel Lee (R-FL), Michael Waltz (R-FL), Clay Higgins (R-LA), and Pat Fallon (TX) are the other members of the GOP. Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) will complete the Democratic team.

 

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) released a joint statement saying, “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 chairman of the now-dissolved January 6 Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), was not chosen to take part. Specifically, after Thompson submitted a plan that might deprive Trump of Secret Service protection under certain circumstances, the conservative House Freedom Caucus asked that Thompson not be admitted. According to reports, Thompson expressed no desire to serve on the task panel.

 

Johnson’s office reports that the task group has subpoena power and will oversee any ongoing House investigations into the protest incident. “Understand what went wrong on the day of the attempted assassination, ensure accountability, and prevent such an agency failure from ever happening again” are the panel’s stated objectives.

 

Additionally, Johnson’s office stated that the task force would “make recommendations for reform to the relevant government agencies and recommend any necessary legislation to implement the reforms.”

 

The former president was shot in the right ear during the attempted assassination of Trump, and congressional investigators have already started to investigate the incident. Two rally participants were hurt, and one rally participant died. The shooter, identified as a 20-year-old guy named Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.

 

Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, resigned a day after giving a House testimony last week due to criticism of the security lapse that led to the attack. Christoper Wray, the director of the FBI, also testified regarding the shooting’s investigation by his organization.