House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries formally announced on Tuesday plans for a bipartisan task force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump that the House will vote on this week.
Mr. Johnson teased his plans for the panel last week, but Mr. Jeffries’ participation in the formal announcement signals that both parties are involved.
“The security failures that allowed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life are shocking,” Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jeffries said in a statement. “In response to bipartisan demands for answers, we are announcing a House Task Force made up of seven Republicans and six Democrats to thoroughly investigate the matter.”
The decision to add 13 members to the panel is a slight change from the original resolution released Sunday that would have authorized the appointment of up to 11 members.
The House will vote on an updated resolution to formally establish the task force this week. Except for the change in the number of task force members, most everything else in the updated resolution is the same as the original.
The bipartisan support for the task force is unlike some past House investigative panels that had partisan origins, such as the special committees that looked into the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol and the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
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The task force investigating the events surrounding the July 13 attempt on Mr. Trump’s life “will be empowered with subpoena authority and will move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability, and make certain such failures never happen again,” Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jeffries said.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jeffries will serve as ex-officio members of the task force, but will not have voting privileges. They each will designate a leadership staffer to have access to task force meetings, hearings, briefings and materials.
The task force must issue a final report of its findings to the House no later than Dec. 13, including “any recommendations for legislative reforms necessary to prevent future security lapses.” The panel can also issue interim reports as it deems necessary.
The task force will streamline investigations that the House Oversight and Accountability, Homeland Security and Judiciary committees have already started.
The oversight panel held a hearing Monday with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle in which lawmakers were frustrated by the lack of answers she provided about the security failures that led to the assassination attempt.
The Homeland Security Committee toured the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally site where Mr. Trump was fired upon, on Monday and held a hearing Tuesday with Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher L. Paris and Fraternal Order of Police President Patrick Yoes.
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The Judiciary Committee has a hearing scheduled for Wednesday with FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, whose agency is leading the criminal investigation into the gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who grazed Mr. Trump, killed one rallygoer and seriously injured two others.
Those committees will have to submit their records about the assassination attempt to the task force within a week of the House adopting the resolution.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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