The bipartisan House task force charged with investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump likely will lead to significant legislation, House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., says.
Comer’s oversight committee has jurisdiction over the Secret Service, which is under scrutiny for what some call catastrophic security failures at the former president’s July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The agency is tasked with protecting the president, vice president, presidential candidates, and visiting foreign leaders.
“I think that what we will do is take their recommendations and work to try to—I assume we will pass some type of legislation to reform the Secret Service,” Comer told The Daily Signal just days after Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified to his committee.
Cheatle resigned Tuesday after declining to answer most questions at the the committee’s hearing the day before.
“You have a $3.1 billion budget. It’s slated to be $3.2 billion next year,” Comer said of the Secret Service in an interview in his office. “And you have over 8,000 employees. But yet it appears that you were short- staffed that day.”
The House voted unanimously Thursday to establish the task force to probe the shooting, with seven Republicans to be appointed by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and six Democrats to be appointed by Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
The task force is set to file a report with recommendations in the wake of the Trump shooting by Dec. 13, more than a month after the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Who is on the task force will help determine whether its recommendations get bipartisan buy-in, Comer said.
“It all depends on who Jeffries and Johnson appoint,” Comer said. “You could almost–I believe I could tell the minute I read those names whether it’s going to be a success or not. But I’ll reserve judgment. It all depends on who’s on the task force.”
The task force will have subpoena authority and other investigative powers and will focus on what went wrong July 13 at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania; ensure accountability for those mistakes; and attempt to prevent such Secret Service failures from ever happening again, according to Johnson’s office.
One rallygoer was killed and two others wounded by the gunman.
The task force also will make recommendations about reforming the Secret Service and any other relevant government agencies.
“The task force, as I understand it, is going to investigate the shooting that day and all aspects of it,” Comer said. “I think they’ll release their findings on security lapses and mistakes made by the Secret Service. And then the big question is whether or not the shooter acted alone.”
The Kentucky Republican noted that the Secret Service was established by President Abraham Lincoln to investigate counterfeiters. The agency’s focus shifted to the security of leaders about 36 years later, after Lincoln and two other presidents were assassinated.
It might be time for another evaluation of the agency’s purpose. Comer suggested.
“Have they lost their focus? You got all these field offices around the United States. Do we need that? Do we not need to redirect the mission and the function of the Secret Service?” Comer asked.
“We’re not going to be investigating the actual assassination attempt. That will be the [task force]. I would like to wait and see what their suggestions are, and then I’m very interested in looking at solutions to the problem moving forward.”