The House voted unanimously on Wednesday night to create a bipartisan task force to investigate the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
The 416-0 vote comes less than two weeks after a July 13 shooting that sent shock waves through Congress and the world, as a gunman was able to get on a roof roughly 150 yards from where Trump was speaking at a rally in western Pennsylvania.
The push to investigate the shooting and unanimous vote has marked an unusually cooperative high point in a chamber that has been increasingly marked by partisan battles in recent years — not to mention a heavy dose of GOP infighting over the past year-and-a-half. The resolution was passed under suspension on Wednesday night — meaning it required a higher, two-thirds threshold that requires buy-in from both sides of the aisle.
“The people of Butler and the people of the United States deserve answers,” said Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), who spearheaded the resolution and represents Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of the shooting. “The American people deserve to know, and we have the responsibility to find the answers for them.”
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, said that “there needs to be accountability,” and that the task force is needed “to investigate every aspect of what happened.”
The Wednesday vote came a day after Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced they would form a bipartisan task force together — a joint statement that followed behind-the-scenes talks between the two House leaders.
House leadership is expected to name their members to the task force by the end of the week. The task force has to release its final report, including any legislative recommendations, by mid-December. The task force will be composed of seven Republicans and six Democrats, each chosen by their party’s respective leadership.
The task force comes as several congressional committees are also conducting investigations into the assassination attempt. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. While that appearance was scheduled before the shooting, the hours-long hearing was focused on the assassination attempt. Wray provided lawmakers several significant new details but said the bureau is still largely in the dark about the shooter’s motivation.
Meanwhile, the House Homeland Security Committee held its first hearing on the shooting on Tuesday, conducted a visit to the rally site on Monday and has requested a slew of records. The House Oversight Committee is also conducting an investigation and heard from then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. Cheatle, who has been at the center of Congress’s ire after the shooting, abruptly resigned a day later.
But Johnson first indicated last week that he wanted to create a task force, which will have subpoena power, to focus the House’s investigative energies and make sure the probe stays tightly focused on the assassination attempt against Trump.
“It necessitates a … precise and quick action by the Congress,” Johnson told reporters this week. “The moment calls for something unique and different — we need to move quickly, we need to get the answers that the American people deserve.”
The decision to start the task force sparked behind the scenes jockeying, with members noting there was high interest in sitting on the high-profile panel.
Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) said that Johnson had indicated he wanted “serious” members for the panel. Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) separately said that he told Johnson that he did not want to be a member of the task force.
“What they’re looking for … was people with military experience, a security background,” Comer said. “I’m a financial guy.”
