JUST IN: GOP-backed gov funding bill requires DHS, Secret Service to hand over documents on July Trump assassination attempt

The House GOP leadership is rolling out their plan B for a short-term stopgap spending package, which includes additional funding of $231 million to the Secret Service (USSS)— but there is a catch. The funding is dependent on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) handing over documentation related to the July 13 assassination attempt on Donald Trump. This comes as the USSS, an agency under the DHS, has been heavily scrutinized after two assassination attempts on the GOP nominee.

The 49-page continuing resolution (CR) spending package was unveiled on Sunday and would keep the government funded through December 20, setting up for a funding debate right before the Christmas holiday. The three-month time span is much shorter than the first time around, which would have funded the government through March 2025, but it does not include the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.



The bill text states that the $231 million for Secret Service is to be used for "operations necessary to carry out protective operations including the 2024 Presidential Campaign and National Special Security Events." However, to ensure they receive funding, DHS and USSS will have to provide reports on how they plan to use the funds as well as "provide to the House of Representatives Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump all materials responsive to such Task Force’s letters transmitted on August 12, 2024, and August 28, 2024."

These letters from the Task Force sent to DHS Sec Alejandro Mayorkas as well as Acting USSS Director Ronald Rowe demand for "all transcripts from interviews conducted by DHS and USSS related to the July 13" assassination attempt, an "organizational chart showing the structural chains of command between or among all USSS divisions and teams involved in the planning of the July 13," a list of all internal DHS and USSS reports related to the July 13 assassination attempt, as well as "all documents and information that have been produced to date, to any committee of the House or Senate related to the attempted assassination" among other records.

Johnson told colleagues, “While this is not the solution any of us prefer, it is the most prudent path forward under the present circumstances. As history has taught and current polling affirms, shutting the government down less than 40 days from a fateful election would be an act of political malpractice."

"The House will take the initiative and pass a clean, three-month CR to prevent the Senate from jamming us with a bill loaded with billions in new spending and unrelated provisions. Our legislation will be a very narrow, bare-bones CR including only the extensions that are absolutely necessary," Johnson added in the letter.
 

Aug 28 Letter