Jacob Ogles
A congressional committee investigating the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump will include three Florida Representatives.
House Speaker Mike Johnson named seven Republicans to serve on the committee, including U.S. Reps. Laurel Lee of Thonotosassa and Michael Waltz of St. Augustine Beach. The same day, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries picked six Democratic members, including U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Parkland.
Florida’s lawmakers promised to address the duty solemnly.
Lee, a former Florida Secretary of State and circuit court Judge, won election to Congress in 2022. She now serves in the House Homeland Security and Judiciary committees. Homeland Security Committee members recently visited the site where the 20-year-old shooter fired shots into the rally. Trump suffered a minor injury, but rally attendee Corey Comperatore was killed and two others were hospitalized with injuries.
“On July 13, 2024, the American people witnessed a catastrophic security failure that nearly resulted in the loss of President Trump’s life. The United States Secret Service has a no-fail mission to protect America’s leaders, and unfortunately, they failed at their core mission that day,” Lee said.
“One of Congress’s constitutional responsibilities is to conduct oversight to provide accountability and transparency, and that is exactly what this task force will do. I would like to thank Speaker Johnson for entrusting me to be a member of this task force and I look forward to working with my colleagues to investigate these inexcusable security failures to ensure this never happens again.”
Moskowitz, who played a key role in the Florida Legislature’s response to the Parkland shooting in 2018, serves on the House Oversight Committee.
“I am grateful to have the confidence of Speaker Johnson and Leader Jeffries to serve on this bipartisan task force,” Moskowitz said.
“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.”
Waltz, meanwhile, is a former Green Beret and rumored to be under consideration for Secretary of State if Trump wins. He serves on the House Intelligence, Armed Services and Oversight committees.
Other Democrats named to the task force include U.S. Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado; Lou Correa of California; Madeleine Dean and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania; and Glenn Ivey of Maryland.
Non-Florida Republicans appointed include U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania; Mark Green of Tennessee; David Joyce of Ohio; Clay Higgins of Louisiana; and Pat Fallon of Texas.
Johnson appointed the GOP members, while Jeffries appointed the Democrats.
One Florida lawmakers expressed anger for being passed over. Rep. Cory Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, turned heads when he suggested Secret Service failures were intentional.
“It’s very unfortunate but not surprising for anyone familiar with how DC works,” Mills posted after the appointments were announced. “I’m not a politician, leadership, or a ‘yes man.’ I wish the members of Speaker Johnson’s Task Force well, and think it’s time for a parallel independent investigation with subject matter experts (SME) and the whistleblowers who’ve already come forward that myself and (U.S. Rep.) Eli Crane and (conservative journalist) Benny Johnson have spoken with. I will be speaking with other members, and although I won’t have subpoena powers, I will personally fund whatever is required for additional staff to further investigation and expose the truth.”
The congressional task force will have subpoena power to investigate the attack in Pennsylvania.
The House voted on Wednesday to establish the panel, with its investigation set to conclude by Dec. 13.
The group will not be the only body looking into the attack, which resulted in an injury to the former President’s ear — a near miss from what would have likely been a fatal headshot. The FBI is conducting its own investigation, while the Secret Service is conducting its own internal investigation. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has also appointed an independent panel to investigate the attack, at the behest of President Joe Biden.
The new House panel will “assume control and jurisdiction over all pending House committee investigations” regarding the assassination attempt, CBS News reported.
Questions remain about how the shooter was able to gain access to the roof upon which he fired eight shots at the former President. That includes why warnings, which have been reported to have been made up to 90 minutes before the shooting, were not able to allow Secret Service or other law enforcement to thwart the attack.
The controversy led to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign amid brutal criticism from Republican members of Congress and frustration among Democrats for failing to provide answers during a congressional hearing.
Investigators still have not discovered a motive for the shooting, though evidence suggests it may not have been politically motivated, and that the shooter was trying to target a person in power irrespective of ideology.
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Janelle Irwin Taylor of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
