The House task force formed to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Trump took its first official steps Monday, requesting documents and instructions from key agencies involved and investigating the shooting.
Task force Chairman Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and ranking member Jason Crow (D-Colo.) sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe, and another to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
In the letters, the panel’s leaders stake a claim as the House’s investigative authority on the attempted assassination issue, saying their request will “supersede” all other House committees and members. Departments and agencies should provide “all documents and information that have been produced to date” in response to other House committees and members to date, the letters say, and provide the task force with future information directly.
Kelly and Crow also requested a briefing with representatives from the respective departments and agencies, “no later than August 16.”
The task force, which was approved in a rare unanimous roll call vote, will consolidate multiple House investigations into last month’s Butler, Pennsylvania, rally shooting, in which a 20-year-old suspected gunman left Trump with a bruised ear, a of them. rally participant killed and two others seriously injured.
Before the creation of the task force, the House Oversight Committee held a brutal hearing with then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. Lawmakers from both parties were frustrated by her refusal to provide more information about the shooting and called for her resignation, and Cheatle resigned the next day.
The task force is expected to produce a final report by Dec. 13, but will have interim reports along the way, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said.
It will also make any recommendations for reforms to government agencies in light of the attack, as well as any legislation needed to carry out those reforms.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
