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WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted unanimously late Wednesday to establish a task force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, indicating bipartisan outrage over the Secret Service's handling of the situation.
"Protecting the safety and security of our nation's leaders is a responsibility that transcends party lines," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said after the 416-0 vote.
"The task force's mission is clear: to determine what led to the inexcusable security failures, ensure accountability, and make certain no such lapses ever happen again," he said.
Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries released a joint statement, saying, "The security failures that allowed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life are shocking."
Here's who will be on the task force
This investigative body will have the authority to hold depositions, issue subpoenas, request House committees to provide any relevant records and offer legislative solutions, and report their findings by Dec. 13.
This bipartisan commission will consist of 11 members appointed by Johnson, with Jeffries, D-N.Y., having say in at least five of the potential candidates.
Before the vote, the House Freedom Caucus issued a statement opposing Rep. Bennie Thompson's potential appointment.
"In April, Rep. Bennie Thompson launched an effort with other radical progressive Democrats to deny Secret Service protection to President Trump — legislation that he continues to defend even after the attempted assassination on July 13," the statement said.
It urged Thompson, D-Miss., to be removed as the ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
The statement added, "Americans cannot trust that he will be an unbiased arbiter of the facts in the effort to get to the bottom of the greatest failure of the Secret Service in more than three decades."
A spokesperson for Jeffries defended Thompson, saying he "has served the Congress and the country admirably, including as chair of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol and the Homeland Security Committee," according to The Hill.
The report added that Thompson isn't interested in serving on the committee.
"I don't even want to be on it," Thompson told The Hill. "I've never expressed an interest."
Secret Service's lack of answers
This task force will join the several other investigations into the Secret Service launched by the federal law enforcement agency itself, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security as well as congressional committees.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned from her post Tuesday, a day after she came under fire for not providing answers for the security collapses that led to the assassination attempt.
"The Secret Service's solemn mission is to protect our nation's leaders. On July 13, we failed," Cheatle said before Congress on Monday. "We must learn what happened, and I will move heaven and Earth to ensure an incident like July 13 does not happen again."
The 20-year-old gunman nearly killed the former president at a campaign rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Trump suffered an injury on his ear. One attendee at the rally was killed and two others were also injured.
The gunman gained access to a rooftop of a warehouse, allowing him to be roughly 600 yards away from Trump. At the oversight hearing earlier this week, Cheatle could not answer why that warehouse was not surveilled and said that Secret Service agents were unaware that the man, who was spotted on the roof by attendees, was armed.
