Speaker Johnson to set up task force to probe near Trump assassination

Speaker Mike Johnson plans to form a special House task force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. 

The Louisiana Republican announced his plans in a Fox News interview Wednesday, explaining that his goal is to streamline investigations into the security failures at Mr. Trump’s Saturday campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that House committees have already begun.

“I’ll be setting up on Monday a task force, a special task force within the House,” Mr. Johnson said. “And the reason we’re going to do it that way is because that is a more precision strike. It goes quicker. There’s not a lot of the procedural hurdles.” 

He said he plans to appoint Republicans and Democrats to the task force, which will be given subpoena authority to compel testimony and document production if needed. 

The speaker said he spoke to committee chairmen, Oversight’s James Comer, Kentucky Republican, and Homeland Security’s Mark Green, Tennessee Republican, about the plan to form a task force.

“We’re all aligned in this,” Mr. Johnson said. “I’m going to take it into the speaker’s office so we can streamline this thing and move it quickly. But those guys will be intimately involved in it.”

Both panels have already announced public hearings for next week — Oversight on Monday and Homeland Security on Tuesday — that Mr. Johnson hopes still occur. However, he said Republicans have heard “rumblings” that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas may not allow Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to attend the hearings. 

Those hints come after Ms. Cheatle agreed to privately brief both panels this week but the Homeland Security Department stepped in and took over communications. The briefings haven’t happened, and the committees are considering issuing subpoenas to compel her testimony, although that effort may move to the new task force. 

Ms. Cheatle agreed to privately brief both panels this week, but the Homeland Security Department stepped in and took over communications, and the briefings did not happen. 

The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday sent a subpoena to Ms. Cheatle to compel her testimony at Monday’s hearing. 

“Despite allowing you to speak with the media, both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Secret Service have failed to provide assurances regarding your appearance at the Oversight Committee’s scheduled hearing, thereby necessitating the attached subpoena,” Mr. Comer wrote to Ms. Cheatle, adding that the lack of transparency and cooperation “further calls into question your ability to lead the Secret Service.”

Mr. Johnson is calling for Ms. Cheatle to resign as head of the Secret Service, saying the security failures at Saturday’s rally are “inexcusable” and her efforts to explain what happened have not passed muster.  

“Her explanation to the media that there was a slant on the roof so there was a safety concern,” he said. “Come on. It doesn’t wash.” 

Mr. Johnson said he hasn’t spoken with Ms. Cheatle since the attempt on Mr. Trump’s life. The speaker did talk to Mr. Mayorkas as well as intelligence and FBI leaders and was unsatisfied with the information provided to date.

“There [are] real questions. Let’s just put it that way,” the speaker said. “The answers have not been forthcoming.”

The House Homeland Security Committee has gone further than the Oversight panel in seeking testimony from officials beyond Ms. Cheatle. The committee also requested Mr. Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray appear at its hearing on Tuesday. 

And on Wednesday, the Homeland Security Committee sent invites to Pennsylvania law enforcement officials to testify sometime in the coming days. The panel has asked Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher L. Paris, Butler County Sheriff Michael T. Slupe and Matthew Pearson of the Butler Township Police Department to appear in Washington.  

Mr. Johnson said a House task force to streamline the congressional investigations is appropriate, given the “finite set of facts” and a need to obtain quick answers to prevent further incidents. 

“Obviously, there were security lapses. You don’t have to be a special ops expert to understand that,” he said. “And we’re going to get down to the bottom of it quickly.”

A virtual House member briefing on the assassination attempt and security issues at Mr. Trump’s rally was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon from Secret Service Deputy Director Ronald Rowe and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. The duo will brief the Senate first.