‘To hell with the convention’: Tim Burchett calls to prioritize investigation into Trump assassination attempt

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) has asked his fellow lawmakers to skip the 2024 Republican National Convention, stressing the need to focus on investigating former President Donald Trump’s assassination attempt.

Trump was wounded in the ear when he was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, two days before the Republican Party’s convention on Monday. Burchett, however, wants his co-workers to not spend any time at his convention, as he wants to get to the bottom of what happened on Saturday and the failures of what allowed the attempted assassination to happen.

“We need to get to Washington, to hell with the convention,” Burchett said. “We’ve got to find out what went on, make sure that it never happens again.”

The Tennessee lawmaker added that “somebody really dropped the ball” when it was revealed that the shooter had been on a rooftop, questioning how the shooter was able to get to such a position. He also accused Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle of being “a DEI initiative person” and contended that Trump almost getting assassinated was the result of hiring “the best players.”

Burchett added that “God had his hand” on Trump when he was almost shot, and said he hoped the former president realized this. He added that anyone suggesting this attempted assassination was staged to raise support for Trump are “idiots.”

The 2024 Republican National Convention will see multiple Republican lawmakers as speakers of the event, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA), Reps. Byron Donalds (FL), Elise Stefanik (NY), Matt Gaetz (FL), and Anna Paulina Luna (FL). Govs. Ron DeSantis (FL), Greg Abbott (TX), Doug Burgum (ND), Sarah Huckabee Sanders (AR), and Glenn Youngkin (VA) are also set to speak.

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Beyond Republican lawmakers, the event will also see other celebrities and notable people as speakers, including journalist Tucker Carlson, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk, and country musician Lee Greenwood. Members of Trump’s family speaking at the event include his two sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, the  co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.

Trump wrote on Sunday that he was initially going to delay his speech at the convention for two days, but decided against this because “I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling.”