Ritchie Torres bill would expand Secret Service perimeter after Trump shooting

A bill introduced by Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) would expand the Secret Service‘s perimeter at public events to at least 500 yards, the latest piece of legislation in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

The legislation, unveiled Tuesday, would also allow the agency to extend that perimeter if needed in certain environments. Current law does not require the Secret Service to do that. It would also require the director of the Secret Service to secure all elevated positions within firing distance.

This is Torres’s most recent sponsored legislation in the wake of the shooting at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that left one attendee dead and three, including the former president, injured. The New York Democrat also introduced legislation that would strip the responsibility to investigate financial crimes from the Secret Service, which is part of the agency’s original mission when it was established in 1865.

Torres also introduced a bill with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) that would strengthen Secret Service protections for Trump, President Joe Biden, and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The assassination attempt briefly brought both Democrats and Republicans together in a rare moment of solidarity to denounce political violence and spurned legislation action on both sides of the aisle.

The shooting also brought several House committees together in a bipartisan manner to scrutinize the Secret Service’s security failures that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, to climb on top of a building about 160 yards away from Trump with an AR-15-style rifle.

At a House Oversight Committee hearing, then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was blasted by both Democrats and Republicans who denounced her inability to share virtually any details with the public. She resigned the next day. A Senate hearing the following week with acting Director Ronald Rowe and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate produced more information, but some senators were angry that agents had not been fired or relieved of duty as a result of the security breach.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) announced a bipartisan task force that will investigate the assassination attempt, concurrent with the federal investigation led by the FBI.

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), whose hometown is Butler, will lead the 13-member bipartisan task force. Other Republicans on the force are Reps. Mark Green (R-TN), Dave Joyce (R-OH), Laurel Lee (R-FL), Michael Waltz (R-FL), Clay Higgins (R-LA), and Pat Fallon (R-TX). The Democrats on the body are Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) as ranking member and Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL).

The bipartisan task force opened its investigation on Monday, sending letters to Rowe, Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requesting documents and briefings from the agencies on the shooting.

The letters seek to establish the task force as the primary investigative body even as a handful of House committees have opened their own inquiries into the matter. A formal report is expected by Dec. 13, with interim reports released along the way.