A bipartisan House task force will investigate the assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) announced in a joint statement Tuesday.
“The security failures that allowed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life are shocking,” the lawmakers said in a statement. The task force of seven Republicans and six Democrats will have subpoena power and “will move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability, and make certain such failures never happen again,” they said.
Johnson and Jeffries did not name the people who will be on the task force, but Jeffries was not going to sign on unless Johnson signaled that he would appoint lawmakers serious about the task force’s mission, according to three people familiar with the process who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private conversations.
The shooting during the July 13 rally in Butler, Pa., killed one person, critically injured two others and wounded Trump, who was rushed offstage by Secret Service agents. The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by law enforcement officials at the scene.
A similar bipartisan effort to probe the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by a mob of Trump supporters broke down after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appointed two Republicans to join the committee that then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) opposed.
Professor Peter Loge, director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, said there is reason to believe this task force may accomplish its stated goals, despite high levels of partisan rancor stalling major legislative efforts on both sides of the aisle.
“I think this could get something done,” Loge told The Washington Post on Tuesday, noting that immediately after the shooting, lawmakers from both parties condemned it and denounced politically motivated violence. “This is an opportunity to remind everyone that we are united in saying this is not normal, this is not okay.”
Loge said he’ll look to see whether the members of the task force represent not just both political parties, but also “actual ideological diversity.” He also said he wanted to see if the witnesses who are called to testify worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations, describing them as more likely to be the “smartest, and most qualified, and least obviously political” experts.
“When something big and scary happens, we try to figure out what it means,” Loge said. “Usually, it’s a lot of different things at once.” How widely and how deeply the task force probes those questions will determine how effective the task force is, he said.
The normalization of political threats and violence in America, the accessibility of guns and the bureaucratic failure to protect presidential candidates may all be contributing factors to the shooting, he said. “If the shooting is about the failure of a person or agency, Congress holds hearings, people get fired and we move on,” he said.
At a news conference Tuesday, Johnson said the people who will be appointed to the committee will be announced by the end of the week, and they will “have expertise in the areas in question.”
A final report from the task force will be due by Dec. 13, he said. “The stakes are too high. It’s a very dangerous time,” Johnson said. “We need the Secret Service to be acting to be performing at the top of their game.”
After Johnson spoke, news broke that the director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, had resigned. “As your Director, I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she wrote to agency staff in a letter obtained by The Post. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that, I have made the difficult decision to step down as your Director.”
During the earlier news conference, Johnson had reiterated his call for her to be fired. “Maladministration and utter incompetence unfortunately are not impeachable offenses, but there are other ways to achieve the desired ends,” he said, noting that Republicans had a resolution calling on President Biden “to do his job and fire her.”
In a statement, Biden said Cheatle “has selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career in the United States Secret Service.” He also said he would appoint a new director “soon.”
Marianna Sotomayor contributed to this report.
Source link : https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/23/donald-trump-shooting-house-panel-johnson-jeffries/
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Publish date : 2024-07-23 14:21:23
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