(NewsNation) — A day after bipartisan calls for the Secret Service director to resign, the House speaker and minority leader have announced a task force to investigate the near-assassination of former President Donald Trump.
The panel will be made up of seven Republicans and six Democrats and will have subpoena power.
“The security failures that allowed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life are shocking,” Speaker Mike Johnson said in a post on X.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer told NewsNation partner The Hill the resolution could likely get a vote Wednesday evening. Per The Hill, its approval would require broad bipartisan support, including two-thirds support of the chamber.
Trump assassination attempt
Trump’s ear was grazed during the shooting Saturday at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, was identified as the shooter.
Secret Service agents shot and killed Crooks seconds after the attack, which was the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
A former Butler County Fire Chief Corey Comperatore died protecting his family from the bullets before he was struck. Two others were hospitalized.
At his first rally since the shooting on Monday, Trump opened by offering a “very special thanks to Americans nationwide, including all of you here today for your extraordinary outpouring of love and support in the wake of the horrific last Saturday evening.”
Questions over Secret Service response
Lawmakers from both political parties are calling for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation in the wake of concerns they have about their response to the assassination attempt.
On Monday, Cheatle testified in front of Congress, promising to move “heaven and earth to ensure an incident” like Saturday’s does not happen again. Although she’s been in closed-door interviews over the past week, Cheatle testified publicly under oath Monday, directly answering questions from the House Oversight Committee.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed. As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse,” Cheatle said. “As an agency, we are fully cooperating with the FBI’s investigation, the oversight you have initiated here, and conducting our own internal mission assurance review at my direction.”
Both the chair and ranking member of the House Oversight Committee called on her to resign.
Now, an independent commission will review the performance of the Secret Service before, during and after Trump’s assassination attempt. Made up of people such as former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and several advisers to former President George W. Bush, the group will have 45 days to evaluate the planning actions of the Secret Service, state and local authorities during the rally.
