Four Republicans on the task force investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump were no-shows for a site visit on Monday, according to The Washington Post.
The bipartisan task force was set up by a unanimous House vote in late July, two weeks after a would-be assassin fired at Trump during an outdoor rally, grazing his ear.
The 12-strong task force consists of seven Republicans and five Democrats and has full House investigatory powers, including subpoena powers.
But just three GOP representatives were in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Monday for the group’s first visit to the site of the shooting, the Post reported.
Aside from Rep. Mike Kelly, the task force’s chairman, the only other Republicans present were David Joyce (Ohio) and Laurel Lee (Fla).
Reps. Mark Green (Tenn), Michael Waltz (Fla), Clay Higgins (La), and Pat Fallon (Tex) were absent from the group of lawmakers visiting the site, according to the Post. The reason for their absence was not explained at the press conference, the newspaper added.
Kelly said there was no substitute for being there.
“It’s the difference between day and night,” he said, according to The New York Times. “When you’re actually here on this surface, when you’re actually walking these grounds, when you’re actually going to the building, when you’re actually up on the roof.”
The attempt on Trump’s life led to a major public outcry and intense scrutiny of the Secret Service and its potential failings in allowing the shooter to get so close.
It was the closest assassination attempt of a US president or presidential candidate since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
The motives of the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper, remain unknown.
A video on Waltz’s Facebook page suggested that, instead of attending the site visit, the congressman joined Trump at Arlington National Cemetery to commemorate the deaths of 13 servicemembers killed during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
A spokesperson for Waltz told Business Insider that the Congressman had “already committed” to the ceremony ahead of the site visit.
“As a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and having spent much time with the Gold Star families of Abbey Gate and demanding accountability for them, this commemoration ceremony meant a great deal to Rep. Waltz,” the spokesperson said, adding: “He hopes to receive all relevant briefings soon.”
Waltz has previously expressed frustration at the pace of the task force’s progress, telling the New York Post just last week that he is “frustrated at how slow and how little we’ve learned.”
He has also questioned, without providing evidence, whether the shooter acted alone, the NY Post reported.
From their social media posts, it’s unclear how Green, Higgins, and Fallon spent Monday. The lawmakers did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Higgins already visited Butler on August 8 in an effort to devise a detailed “preliminary investigative report,” which he presented to Kelly on August 12.
He is among 16 Republican figures who have been criticized for amplifying conspiracy theories alleging the FBI’s involvement in the January 6 insurrection.
Alongside the bipartisan effort, MAGA-leaning GOP lawmakers have held their own hearing about the attempted assassination, inviting figures including Dan Bongino, a former Secret Servicemember, and Erik Prince, a businessman and former SEAL, to weigh in on the Secret Service’s performance.
Speaking to the War Room podcast last week, Rep. Eli Crane, who is not on the task force, said that the bipartisan committee couldn’t be trusted not to be “political” with its inquiry.
“We don’t trust the federal government to actually do the job necessary,” he added, according to the Times.
Correction: August 29, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misidentified one of the Republicans who attended the site visit on Monday. His name is Mike Kelly, not Mark Kelly, and he’s the task force’s chairman, not its ranking member.
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