Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump Chairman Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Ranking Member Jason Crow (D-Colo.) announced the list of witnesses for the Task Force’s first hearing on July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pa.
Mr. Edward Lenz: Sergeant, Adams Township Police Department, Commander, Butler County Emergency Services Unit
Mr. Drew Blasko: Patrolman, Butler Township Police Department
Mr. John D. Herold: Lieutenant, Pennsylvania State Police
Mr. Patrick Sullivan: Former United States Secret Service Agent
Dr. Ariel Goldschmidt: Medical Examiner, Allegheny County, Pa.
The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, September 26, 2024 at 9:30a.m. ET in 1100 Longworth House Office Building.
To date, the Task Force has held multiple meetings with law enforcement officials, conducted a number of transcribed interviews, and reviewed thousands of documents. This includes:
Over a dozen requests for documents and interviews to local, state, and federal agencies.
23 transcribed interviews in September with local law enforcement.
Met with FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, and the Task Force has received more than 2,800 pages of documents from the Secret Service.
Members of the Task Force took an official visit to the rally site in August where they met with local law enforcement officials to discuss what occurred on July 13.
On Friday, the U.S. House passed legislation by unanimous consent expanding the jurisdiction of the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump to include the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on September 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida.
With few details still known about Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin of former President Trump, one member of the House task force probing the assassination attempt is saying the FBI has not been forthcoming with their investigation.
Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., a member of the Bipartisan Assassination Task Force, appeared on “Fox News Sunday” with fellow task force member Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Penn., to discuss the group’s investigation into the U.S. Secret Service’s (USSS) failures during the July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Crooks fired a series of bullets from a rooftop that was left unchecked.
While Waltz and Dean both said the failures appear to rest with USSS, which has since taken full responsibility, Waltz appreciated that the agency has been forthcoming with the investigation, whereas the FBI – over two months after the assassination attempt – has not.
In July, FBI Director Christopher Wray initially told House lawmakers that “there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that, you know, hit his ear.” Two days later, the bureau issued a statement saying: “What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle.”
Waltz said he’d like to see Wray and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas hold a press conference like the one USSS recently held.
“We still know virtually nothing about Crooks, the shooter in Butler, about his encrypted accounts, how he learned to build those IEDs,” the congressman said.
On Thursday, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., ranking member of the HSGAC Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said that what few documents the FBI provided lawmakers were “heavily redacted.”
“I’ve never seen this,” Johnson told reporters of the redactions.
“And when asked about it behind closed doors, the FBI would not give us any information to the Intelligence Committee,” Waltz said. “Just this week. It’s completely unacceptable and we need to issue those subpoenas.”
Dean added that it “makes sense” for the task force to investigate the second apparent assassination attempt against Trump that occurred at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, and condemned all political violence.
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