Final hearing of Trump assassination attempt task force set for Thursday

Benjamin Kail, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Dec 2, 2024

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WASHINGTON — The House task force investigating a pair of assassination attempts on President-elect Donald Trump is poised to hear from acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe its final hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday, with the panel aiming to wrap up its inquiry and release a report in the coming weeks detailing deadly security failures that rocked the country amid a tumultuous election season.

The bipartisan group, which has already laid out a series of planning and communication bungles by the Secret Service around the July 13 shooting at a Trump rally in Butler County, previously met in September and heard testimony from local and state law enforcement leaders, and security experts.

The task force announced Rowe's upcoming testimony on Monday morning. Rowe told reporters in September that "complacency ... led to a breach of protocols" at the Butler rally, where 20-year-old Bethel Park gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire during Trump's speech, injuring the then-Republican presidential nominee and two others and killing former firefighter Corey Comperatore.

With lawmakers at the time demanding accountability, Rowe pledged punishment for agents who failed to follow procedure. He declined to provide details on the personnel involved but noted the agency has some of the most "robust penalties" in the federal government.

The panel's chairman, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, recently told Elmira, N.Y., television station WENY that the federal agencies failed to adequately coordinate and plan for the Butler rally. A Secret Service counter sniper shot and killed Crooks after he fired eight rounds from a rooftop within range of the rally stage.

Kelly said the task force's findings suggest the Secret Service should perhaps be its own agency no longer under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security — "separating them, truly making them this elite group to increase the numbers of the people they need, all the assets they need, that's the best approach."

Last month, Kelly and ranking member Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., issued subpoenas to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, demanding testimony from two ATF agents and more records involved in the rally and its aftermath.

The task force leaders said the ATF had effectively stonewalled the panel's efforts by failing to provide documents and testimony in a timely fashion.

The panel has made a series of investigative requests to federal, state and local agencies over the past several months.

"ATF, in coordination with the DOJ, FBI and DHS, is fully committed to supporting the task force and addressing its requests promptly and transparently," Kristina Mastropasqua, the agency spokesperson, recently told the Post-Gazette.

ATF provided the task force a detailed briefing "confirming it had no formal role in planning or securing the July 13th campaign event in Butler," she added.

"The briefing also outlined for the Task Force ATF's response to assist the investigation after the attempted assassination occurred, including quickly tracing the firearm used in the attempt — evidence that was crucial to identifying the attempted assassin," she said.

The agency also turned over more documents requested by the task force on Nov. 18, Mastropasqua said.

In October, the task force requested all ATF records including transcripts, communications, reports and details on personnel involved in responding to the Butler shooting and an apparent thwarted assassination attempt at Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Sept. 15, according to a letter to ATF leadership shared with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Secret Service has acknowledged severe planning and communication failures leading up to and during the July 13 rally. The unprecedented shooting sparked intensified security at the Republican and Democratic national conventions, and at campaign rallies in several battleground states in the home stretch of the 2024 race.

President Joe Biden ordered the Secret Service to provide Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who later became the Democratic presidential nominee, the same level of protection as provided to the president.

Kelly and Crow say the task force is on track to release a final report later this month. The task force plans to hold a business meeting following Thursday's hearing, which is set for 9:30 a.m. and can be livestreamed on the task force's YouTube page.

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