Johnson and Jeffries announce members of Trump shooting task force
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Monday announced the seven Republicans and six Democrats who will sit on the task force to investigate the assassination attempt against former President Trump.
The Republican chair of the panel will be Rep. Mike Kelly (Pa.), who represents Butler, Pa., where the shooting took place and was present in the front row during the rally.
The Democratic ranking member will be Rep. Jason Crow (Colo.), a former Army Ranger and Bronze Star recipient who sits on the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees.
On the Republican side, the task force will also include Reps. Mark Green (Tenn.), the chair of the Homeland Security Committee; David Joyce (Ohio); Laurel Lee (Fla.); Michael Waltz (Fla.); Clay Higgins (La.); and Pat Fallon (Texas).
The five other Democratic appointees are Reps. Lou Correa (Calif.), Madeleine Dean (Pa.), Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), Glenn Ivey (Md.) and Jared Moskowitz (Fla.).
“We have the utmost confidence in this bipartisan group of steady, highly qualified and capable Members of Congress to move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability and help make certain such failures never happen again,” Johnson and Jeffries said in a joint statement.
The House authorized creation of the task force last week in a rare unanimous roll call vote.
Armed with subpoena authority, the task force aims to consolidate various panels’ work investigating the shooting at the Butler, Pa., rally earlier this month, when a 20-year-old suspected gunman left Trump with an injured ear, one rally attendee dead, and two others critically injured.
Johnson described the aims of the panel in a press conference last week.
“They’ll have three primary responsibilities: We have to get the answers, of course, about what happened. We need to make sure that accountability is ensured to the American people. And then we need to prevent anything like this from ever happening again,” Johnson said.
The task force will produce a final report by Dec. 13, but will have interim reports along the way, Johnson said.
It will also make any recommendations for reforms to government agencies in light of the attack, as well as any legislation necessary to make those reforms.
The House had started investigations into the shooting earlier in the month, with the Oversight Committee holding a blockbuster hearing with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle last week. Cheatle, who faced bipartisan disapproval and pressure during the hearing, resigned from her post the following day.
The House Homeland Security Committee has also been involved in assessing security failures, with Green leading a bipartisan group of lawmakers to tour the Butler, Pa., rally and hosting local law enforcement personnel for a hearing on Tuesday.
Some discontent over the members of the task force emerged soon after Johnson and Jeffries’ announcement.
Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) — citing a probe he’s already launched with Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), a former Navy SEAL sniper, and conservative media personality Benny Johnson — pledged a “parallel independent investigation.”
“I wish the members of Speaker Johnson’s Task Force well, and think it’s time for a parallel independent investigation with subject matter experts (SME) and the whistleblowers who’ve already come forward that myself and Rep. Eli Crane and Benny Johnson have spoken with,” Mills said. “I will be speaking with other members, and although I won’t have subpoena powers, I will personally fund whatever is required for additional staff to further investigation and expose the truth.”
Updated at 5:53 p.m.
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