The Senate Judiciary and Homeland and Government Affairs committees will hold a joint hearing Tuesday on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump with officials from the FBI and Secret Service.
The panels will also receive a joint classified briefing this Thursday ahead of next week’s hearing, Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, announced.
“We have a responsibility in Congress to learn how the Secret Service failed to protect former President Trump on July 13,” Mr. Durbin said in floor remarks. “We need to do this on a bipartisan basis. Keep politics out of it.”
The Senate Homeland and Government Affairs Committee opened an investigation two days after the July 13 assassination attempt and all senators received a virtual briefing from top FBI and Secret Service officials on July 17 but there’s little public action from the Senate so far.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has chastised Senate Democrats for that, marking a contrast with the speed at which House Republicans had begun holding hearings on the “brazen act of political violence.”
“The House Oversight committee spent hours questioning the director of the Secret Service,” Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said in floor remarks Tuesday. “Unfortunately, the Senate majority hasn’t yet shown any intention of conducting oversight of its own.”
Mr. McConnell welcomed the news that Kimberly Cheatle resigned as director of the Secret Service after she dodged questions in the House Oversight hearing as an important step toward restoring public trust.
Mr. Durbin told reporters he would not be calling Ms. Cheatle to testify at Tuesday’s hearing but could in the future.
“I’m not going to rule it out,” he said.
Mr. Durbin said the Secret Service and FBI both agreed to cooperate. Ronald Rowe, who took over for Ms. Cheatle as acting director, is scheduled to testify for the Secret Service. FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate is appearing instead of FBI Director Christopher A. Wray.
Mr. Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday as part of the panel’s annual FBI oversight hearing, but he had declined a request from the House Homeland Security Committee to testify on Tuesday.
The Senate Judiciary and Homeland panels holding a joint briefing and hearing signals an effort to streamline their investigations. The House is setting up a special task force to combine its committee investigations into one central probe.
• Kerry Picket contributed to this report.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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