The Secret Service on Wednesday briefed members of a bipartisan House task force on Sunday’s apparent second attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump — with leadership of the panel praising the agency’s handling of the Florida incident.
Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), the chair of the panel, and Jason Crow (D-Colo.), the task force’s top Democrat, said they believed the Secret Service had made adjustments and that Trump on Sunday received a level of security with was “commensurate” with what a president would receive.
“It’s our understanding that after July 13 that President Biden ordered the Secret Service to provide the same level of security to both Vice President [Kamala] Harris and to former President Trump that would be a presidential level security — commensurate with what the president would receive — and that that security is being provided,” Crow said, though he caveated that beyond a security “package” there are other levels of security that inherently travel with the president.
Kelly echoed that, adding that lawmakers were told during their briefing that the Secret Service had “made adjustments” and that the agency’s “awareness is heightened.”
It’s the first briefing with the Secret Service for the full task force since Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt in Florida. The task force has also requested a briefing with the FBI.
“It’s incumbent upon us to look everywhere we can,” Kelly added.
The task force was established earlier this year to investigate the July 13 assassination attempt at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. But Speaker Mike Johnson said this week that the scope of the task force, which was narrowly crafted, will be expanded by the House to include the latest incident. That is likely to take a House vote unless they can get consent to skip that step.
Beyond the briefing, Kelly said that the task force is talking about going to West Palm Beach for a site visit. Though the whole task force has not scheduled a trip, POLITICO first reported on Tuesday night that individual members of the panel are planning trips down to Florida.
