House Leaders to Launch ‘Full Investigation’ into Failed Trump Assassination, Call on Secret Service Chief to Testify

House leaders are launching an investigation into the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump during his Saturday rally in Pennsylvania and are requesting testimony from federal law-enforcement officials including the Secret Service.

House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X late Saturday that the House will be conducting a “full investigation of the tragic events” that led to at least one rally-goer’s death.

“The American people deserve to know the truth,” he wrote. “We will have Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and other appropriate officials from DHS and the FBI appear for a hearing before our committees ASAP.”

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said in a statement that “there are many questions and Americans demand answers.” He sent a letter to Cheatle requesting that she appear at a hearing on July 22.

“The tremendous bravery of the individual United States Secret Service agents who protected President Trump, eliminated the gunman, and possibly averted more loss of life cannot be overstated,” the letter says.

However, some top Republicans are calling out law enforcement for failing to protect Trump.

“It is a miracle that President Trump is alive and well but absolutely inexcusable that the deranged would-be assassin had a direct line of sight to the former president and the leading candidate for President of the United States,” Senator Rick Scott of Florida wrote on X.

Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana, a former Navy SEAL who served as Trump’s secretary of the interior, wrote on X that “if it is true that there was a gunman on a nearby roof there was an absolute failure of security” at the rally. “I have secured perimeters in combat zones as a seal and have been inside the perimeter as a protectee for presidential events. I cannot think of a single time where a point of elevation so close in range would have been accessible and not already occupied by security forces.”

“The American people and our leadership deserve better,” he added.

Authorities believe that shortly after 6 p.m. on Saturday, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa. fired shots at Trump while he was speaking at a campaign rally. Trump was shot in the ear and is safe, but one rally-goer was killed and two others were critically injured, according to media reports.

Crooks was killed by Secret Service agents at the scene.

Witnesses reported seeing a man with a rifle bear-crawling up the roof of a nearby building before shots were fired. Other witnesses described seeing at least two rally-goers being shot, with one man being shot in the head and “killed instantly.”

Secret Service Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Sunday morning that Trump’s security detail had recently been expanded in anticipation of the Republican National Convention this week, pushing back on reports that Trump’s team had requested additional resources from the Biden administration and been denied.

“Theres an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed,” Guglielmi wrote on X. “This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”

The FBI announced that it is leading the investigation into the shooting. “We will continue to support this investigation with the full resources of the FBI, alongside our partners at the U.S. Secret Service and state and local law enforcement,” the agency wrote on X.

Both the congressional and FBI investigations are sure to focus on how the shooter managed to gain access to a building within several hundred yards of the stage where Trump was speaking while carrying a rifle, and why evasive action was not taken after the shooter was spotted by several bystanders who say they warned police of his presence.