BUTLER, Pa. — At least three groups in Congress are investigating the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, each with different styles and goals that are causing tension among lawmakers seeking accountability.
There are two official congressional probes underway, one led by a bipartisan House task force and another from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The third group, a band of House Republicans led by Reps. Cory Mills of Florida and Eli Crane of Arizona, is conducting an unofficial investigation.
Rep. Mike Kelly, Pennsylvania Republican and chair of the House task force, said in an interview with The Washington Times from his district office in Butler, Pennsylvania — roughly 5 miles from the Butler Farm Show site where he witnessed the assassination attempt on Mr. Trump — that his panel is conducting “a very deep dive” and avoiding any rush to judgment.
“It’s going to be one we measure twice, cut once,” he said. “I’ve heard all kinds of conspiracy theories. I have colleagues that have come up with the answers, doing a simple matter of scratching it out on paper, saying this is what happened that day.”
Mr. Kelly argued that the bipartisan task force is unique because “nobody knows who they are,” and they are not using the assassination attempt investigation to grab the spotlight. The panel is composed mostly of members with military or law backgrounds.
“They don’t stand on the Capitol steps, saying, ’I know the answer. I know the answer. This is what happened. This is what should have taken place.’ That’s not who they are,” he said.
Although Mr. Kelly did not call any colleagues out by name, his criticism appeared directed at lawmakers like Mr. Mills and Mr. Crane, who have drawn some quick inferences.
Mr. Mills and his band of investigators held a hearing-style event Monday at the Heritage Foundation where he said they were trying to prove the security failures on July 13 were not mere mistakes, but rather “purposeful intent or criminal gross negligence.”
Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Chip Roy of Texas joined Mr. Mills and Mr. Crane in posing questions to a three-member panel, including a SWAT officer who worked the July 13 rally, and a former Secret Service agent, as they tried to build up support for that theory.
Mr. Mills and Mr. Crane have complained they were not assigned to the bipartisan House task force given their military backgrounds and sniper training. They say they were excluded because they have at times broken with House GOP leaders.
Promising that Monday’s hearing won’t be his panel’s last, Mr. Mills said: “This is a message to all of Congress that if we are not selecting people based on meritocracy, that independent investigations like this will continue to move forward, that there are members and conservatives who will not be silenced.”
Notably, all five Republicans involved in the unofficial probe voted last month for the resolution establishing the bipartisan task force, which was adopted in a rare, unanimous House vote.
The rogue GOP investigators acknowledge their probe is at a disadvantage because they do not have subpoena power like the House task force.
“We’re going to need to rely on whistleblowers,” Mr. Crane said, offering an email for those who want to come forward: J13tipline@mail.house.gov.
Senators investigating the assassination attempt — some as part of the Homeland Security panel’s probe and others conducting work on their own — have emphasized the importance of quickly interviewing witnesses and obtaining the facts about July 13 while memories are fresh and unaltered.
Mr. Kelly, when asked about that, took a shot at the generally elder Senate. “They may have a problem with that in the Senate, with their memories being fresh,” he said, adding that as one of the people who was at the rally, “that’s not something you easily forget.”
He also pointed out the irony of the upper chamber, not known for its speed or productivity, signaling a sense of urgency.
“I’ve never seen a group that works so slow and then decides on this they have to do it so fast,” Mr. Kelly said. “Some people were there within hours of this happening. That’s not a deep dive. That’s just a quick drive.”
Despite the congressional investigators taking different approaches, they have run into similar issues. Lawmakers from all three investigating groups have complained that the Secret Service and the FBI have not been forthcoming with information.
Sen. Ron Johnson, ranking member of the Homeland Security’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said in a Fox News interview Monday that the Secret Service promised in a hearing late last month to make the agents involved in securing the July 13 rally available for transcribed interviews within days.
Instead, it took “a week or so” and the Service Secret provided personnel who have shed little new insight, while withholding access to other more critical players, like the countersniper who took the shot that killed the gunman, he said.
Mr. Johnson said the FBI has also not yet provided the Senate investigators with any transcripts of its witness interviews, as he requested during the hearing.
“If you were to design a system, an investigation that was designed to raise suspicion and drive conspiracy theories, you couldn’t do a better job than what the Secret Service and the FBI are doing right now,” he said.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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