Bipartisan task force members named in Trump assassination attempt probe
Fox News
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., announced Monday the representatives who are named to a bipartisan panel that will investigate the assassination attempt against former President Trump earlier this month.
“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,” they said in a joint statement.
Republican Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania will serve as chairman of the task force. He notably represents Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was shot at an outdoor rally and one spectator was killed.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., will be the ranking member.
Other members of the 13-person panel are Reps. Mark Green, R-Tenn., David Joyce, R-Ohio, Laurel Lee, R-Fla., Michael Waltz, R-Fla., Clay Higgins, R-La., Pat Fallon, R-Texas, Lou Correa, D-Calif., Madeleine Dean, D-Penn., Chrissy Houlahan, D-Penn., Glenn Ivey, D-Md., and Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.
“I am grateful to have the confidence of Speaker Johnson and Leader Jeffries to serve on this bipartisan task force,” Moskowitz said in a statement. “As the former Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, I have been involved in after-action reviews to learn from the failures and successes of both natural and man-made disasters, and as a State Representative from Parkland, Florida, where 17 people died in a mass shooting at my alma mater, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, I helped to create the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission that investigated the failures of that day.”
“I look forward to working, in a bipartisan fashion, with my colleagues to provide the American people with the answers they seek from this dark moment in our nation’s history and to work on solutions to make sure nothing like this happens again.”
Houlahan issued her own statement in response to the announcement, saying, “It’s a distinct and solemn honor to be appointed by Speaker Mike Johnson and Leader Hakeem Jeffries to serve on the bipartisan task force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.”
“Legislation needed to establish this task force passed the House unanimously, underscoring the mandate from Pennsylvanians and all Americans to conduct this investigation free from political influences and divisive rhetoric. I am committed to upholding our values of truth, civility, decency, and patriotism through my work on this task force,” she added.
Noticeably absent from the task force members was Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y. Last week the lawmaker pushed back on concerns voiced by Republicans about his potential status on the panel. Some pointed to a remark the made last year, suggesting that Trump needed to be “eliminated.”
“As someone with a lifelong commitment to democracy and the rule of law, Congressman Goldman immediately clarified a misstatement from last November to emphasize his strong condemnation of all political violence. The Congressman demonstrated with pointed questioning during congressional hearings last week that the Secret Service must be held accountable for its unacceptable security lapse, and he is determined to ensure such a failure never happens again,” Goldman’s spokesperson Madison Andrus told Fox News Digital.