Leaders of the House task force created to investigate the assassination attempt on former President Trump are feeling the pressure of time to investigate the shooting in just a few months — and prevent the panel that won surprisingly bipartisan support from succumbing to the spectacle.
Task force chairman Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and ranking member Jason Crow (D-Colo.) laid out the priorities and challenges for the panel in interviews with The Hill.
“At the end of this investigation, the American people… cannot still be wondering what happened,” Kelly said. “We will have a clear answer to what happened. And whatever we have to do, we will do it, including subpoenaing some people.”
But the panel will have to move at a much faster pace than typical congressional investigations to produce a complete final report by December 13.
“We only have four months here, so it will be a very quick process,” Crow said. “We will have to make sure this is accurate. Accuracy is very important here. We don’t want there to be misunderstandings. We don’t want to feed any of these alternative theories that are circulating.”
The task force took its first official action earlier this week with letters to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice requesting briefings and any documents in progress based on requests from other House panels. And it’s hiring staff, which Crow said hasn’t been difficult because “people realize the historic nature of this.”
A visit to the shooting site for task force members is being planned for the week of Aug. 26, Kelly said. Some members had already been there as part of a House Homeland Security Committee trip in the days following the July 13 shooting.
One member of the panel, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), who visited the site with other members of the House Homeland Security Committee earlier this month, posted a selfie on X pointing to the roof from where the shooter shot the former president, killing one participant and leaving two others seriously injured.
Kelly expects the panel to hold public hearings, perhaps as early as September, when lawmakers return for a three-week session, before breaking down again in October, ahead of the election.
But this scheduled time outside of Washington, D.C. is complicating the task force’s work. One panel member, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, expressed frustration earlier this month that the panel was moving too slowly.
“The biggest challenge we will face is the ability to be together, to look at things together, and that will be my responsibility,” Kelly said.
As the panel grows, information continues to emerge about security breaches surrounding the rally. Videos show rally participants trying to alert authorities about the alleged shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, acting suspiciously. At a Senate hearing last month, officials detailed breakdowns in communication.
With Trump and Vice President Harris actively campaigning, there is also a question about what the task force can do to address security ahead of the November elections.
“We will have to decide whether or not we are in a position to make preliminary recommendations that can be implemented in a shorter time frame,” Crow said.
Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.), a member of the task force, said the tight turnaround leaves the task force in the position of having to “trust but verify” whether the Secret Service is already taking necessary steps to rectify problems. acquaintances.
“These candidates were campaigning last weekend, so these things are happening in real time. My frustration is that we don’t have time,” said Correa. “We have time to do the check, but the Secret Service has to take care of it yesterday.”
One action the panel is not considering: bringing in the former president.
“I don’t know what the point would be in talking to President Trump about this,” Kelly said.
Task force leaders hope to avoid the spectacle. The Chamber authorized the panel in a rare unanimous roll call vote in July, and the goal is to maintain this bipartisanship.
Kelly said the makeup of the panel, 13 members announced jointly by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.), shows it will be a serious operation.
“No one would say, ‘Oh, I know who that is. I see them on the front steps of the Capitol all the time. I know who it is, they’re on TV every night yelling at someone from the Secret Service or the FBI or something,’” Kelly said.
Rep. Chrissy Houlihan (D-Pa.), another member of the task force, said Kelly reached out “to make sure we were all on the same page” and if anything deviated from that, “to clamp down on it. ”
But the choice of members was controversial. Frustrated at not being part of the panel despite having looked into the matter himself, Rep. Cory Mills (R-Florida) said he would conduct a “parallel independent investigation” into the assassination attempt.
Crow said he otherwise expects a cohesive effort from the task force members, saying he and Kelly were focused on “getting the right team in place, on setting the right tone, on getting this done quickly and in a serious way.” ”. path.”
For Kelly, the task force is personal.
A longtime resident of Butler, Pennsylvania, he grew up showing animals at the Farm Show fairgrounds, which became the site of Trump’s rally. Later, as an automobile dealer, he exhibited at the Farm Show featuring trucks and other vehicles.
Kelly was in the front row at Trump’s rally on July 13, and his wife, son and three of his grandchildren were present elsewhere in the crowd.
“I actually thought the president was dead,” Kelly said as he saw a bloodied Trump fall to the ground after shots were fired. He later had trouble reconnecting with his family.
Reflecting now, Kelly has doubts about the Farm Show location being chosen for the rally.
“When the location was chosen, who chose it? Why did they choose this? Kelly said. “What was the coordination between the Secret Service and the different law enforcement groups that were there to try to ensure the security of the entire operation?”
In some corners, concerns have been raised about Trump’s preference for large outdoor rallies.
“The big question I keep asking and getting no answer to is who is really in charge?” Correa asked, calling the Butler Farm Show website “not secure.”
“Some of the people [were] insinuating to me, maybe the campaign made a lot of decisions with regards to the website, the way the stage was set,” Correa said, also visited Butler during the House Homeland Security Committee’s trip to the site.
Meanwhile, Houlihan is interested in the drones that the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, flew over the rally site.
“The gentleman who attempted this assassination was using technology, specifically drones, that I think the Secret Service and others were not prepared for,” Houlihan said.
Following the shooting – and a disastrous appearance before Congress – the previous director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned from her position leading the agency.
His deputy, Ronald Rowe, took over as acting director and promised to make a series of changes to regain public trust in the agency.
This includes using drones to improve survey sites, as well as using Secret Service countersnipers at all events rather than relying on local law enforcement. But he said it would be difficult to better connect communications systems with local assistance, telling reporters: “The challenge of interoperability is not an easy solution.”
He also resisted lawmakers’ repeated demands to fire Secret Service personnel responsible for planning and responding to the rally, saying he would not rush to judgment and would let an internal investigation take place.
Crow said their report was a method to begin that process.
“I hope there are very concrete recommendations for accountability,” he said.
Mychael Schnell contributed.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
