Bipartisan task force appointed by House leadership to investigate Trump assassination attempt

On Monday, House leaders from both political parties announced that they had appointed 13 members to a newly formed bipartisan congressional task force to investigate the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. The group included seven Republicans and six Democrats, with GOP Rep. Mike Kelly at the helm.

The creation of the task force was unanimously approved in the House last Wednesday. It's members will "investigate and fully examine all actions" by law enforcement at all levels of government prior to, during, and after the shooting of the former president in Butler, Pennsylvania and "issue a final report of its findings to the House not later than December 13, 2024, including any recommendations for legislative reforms necessary to prevent future security lapses."

Kelly, who represents Butler and the surrounding area, will be joined by fellow Republican Reps. Mark Green of Tennessee, David Joyce of Ohio, Laurel Lee and Michael Waltz of Florida, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, and Pat Fallon of Texas. The Democratic faction includes Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Lou Correa of California, Madeleine Dean and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Glenn Ivey of Maryland, and Jared Moskowitz of Florida.

"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," House Speaker Mike Johnson and his Democratic counterpart, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said in a joint statement.

Johnson explained via a series of posts that his chosen members all had extensive national security and legal backgrounds with many of the Democrat members having similar qualifications.

In an interview with the New York Times, Rep. Ivey stressed the importance of ensuring the task force, which will have full subpoena power, remains "nonpartisan," adding, "We don’t have time for politics at all on this. We have a very short amount of time to get the investigation done."

Rep. Green said in a statement that he was "honored" to "more deeply investigate the countless security failures of July 13," adding that the Department of Homeland Security and Secret Service's "utter failure to safeguard a former president and current candidate for our nation's highest office was unacceptable from the start, and it grows more troubling with each new report and effort by the Biden-Harris administration to stonewall congressional oversight."