House unanimously creates task force to investigate Trump assassination attempt

The House voted unanimously to establish a task force to investigate the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, the latest bipartisan effort to expose Secret Service security failures that led to one dead and three, including Trump, injured.

All present Republicans and Democrats approved the resolution in a 416-0 vote to create the task force, one day after Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned following her lackluster testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Monday.

Members from both sides of the aisle left the hearing dissatisfied with her answers, many of which were a variation of “I can’t answer that” and “This is an ongoing investigation.”

The task force will be a 13-member body, with seven Republicans and six Democrats, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

Ahead of the task force vote, the House Freedom Caucus released an official position that they did not want Homeland Security Committee ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-MS) to serve on the task force.

The caucus also called for Thompson to be removed from his committee position for leading the DISGRACED Former Protectees Act. The bill aimed to remove Secret Service protections for those who had been sentenced for a conviction.

Thompson told the Hill that he doesn’t even want to be on the task force.

“I’ve never expressed an interest,” the Mississippi Democrat said.

Johnson signaled in the days following the shooting at Butler, Pennsylvania, that he would move to establish an investigative body to probe into the events that allowed a 20-year-old man to perch on a building near the rally and shoot at Trump. The former president was injured in the ear, while bullets struck and killed former firefighter chief Corey Comperatore, 50, and injured James Copenhaver, 74, and David Dutch, 57.

Democratic members told the Washington Examiner they had expected large caucus support on establishing the task force. Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD), who said he’d vote for the resolution, said ahead of the vote that there hadn’t been many conference conversations about the task force but hadn’t heard any “dissent” about it, either. Some Democrats went back and forth with their votes on Wednesday night before joining with the rest of their caucus to vote “yea.”

Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA) called the assassination attempt a “serious issue” for both parties.

“We feel that we should do what we can to get the bottom of it and make sure protocols and practices, as well as accountability is held throughout the Secret Service,” Aguilar said.