Pennsylvania congressman chosen to lead House task force investigating Trump assassination attempt

KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press

11 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pennsylvania congressman who witnessed the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump firsthand will lead a House task force charged with investigating what went wrong and recommending solutions to ensure such an attack does not happen again.

Republican Rep. Mike Kelly represents the city of Butler, where the July 13 attack took place. He attended Trump’s campaign rally and sponsored legislation to create the task force, saying his community was grieving and that “the people of Butler and the people of the United States deserve answers.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York jointly announced Monday that 13 lawmakers had been named to the task force, which will include seven Republicans and six Democrats and will issue a final report by Dec. 13. To conduct the investigation, the House passed a resolution giving the panel subpoena power.

“We have every confidence in this bipartisan group of resilient, highly qualified and capable members of Congress to move swiftly to find the facts, ensure accountability, and ensure such failures never happen again,” Johnson and Jeffries said in their statement.

Many lawmakers have backgrounds in law enforcement, legal affairs or the military. The panel will assume oversight and jurisdiction over all ongoing House committee investigations into the Trump assassination attempt, streamlining its work.

The other Republican members of the task force are Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee; Rep. David Joyce of Ohio, a former district attorney; Rep. Laurel Lee of Florida, a former assistant district attorney; Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, a former member of the U.S. Army Special Forces; Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, a former Army sergeant and local law enforcement officer; and Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas, a former U.S. Air Force officer.

Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado will serve as the committee’s ranking Democratic member. He is a decorated former Army Ranger who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Other Democratic members include Rep. Lou Correa of ​​California, who serves on the subcommittee that recently visited the scene of the assassination attempt; Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, who served more than six years in that state’s House of Representatives before coming to Congress; Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, a U.S. Air Force veteran; Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland, a former assistant district attorney and state attorney for Prince George’s County; and Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, that state’s former director of emergency management.