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House task force final report: Trump Pennsylvania assassination attempt ‘preventable’

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2 years ago

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The July 13 attempted assassination of Donald Trump was “preventable and should not have happened,” according to a final report from a House task force investigating the two attempts during this year’s presidential campaign.

“The various failures in planning, execution, and leadership on and before July 13, 2024, and the preexisting conditions that undermined the effectiveness of the human and material assets deployed that day, coalesced to create an environment in which the former President — and everyone at the campaign event — were exposed to grave danger,” the House panel said in its report.

The 180-page report from the House panel investigating the July shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a second assassination attempt in Florida details findings from the task force’s monthslong investigation. The probe included briefings from the Secret Service, FBI and ATF, dozens of interviews with federal, state and local law enforcement, two public hearings and thousands of pages of documents.

The panel’s report said that law enforcement’s response to the Sept. 15 Florida attempt “demonstrated how properly executed protective measures can foil an attempted assassination.”

But the report also underscored significant limitations on the panel’s ability to review or publicize key aspects of other investigations into the incidents. Members said the Justice Department limited their ability to access and incorporate crucial details into their final report.

“This system was onerous and unnecessarily inhibited the ability to share information with Members and the public,” the panel concluded.

Those details included restrictions on the transcript of an ATF interview with the parents of the Pennsylvania shooter on the night of the assassination attempt, in addition to the notes from an FBI interview with Trump himself and members of his campaign. The agencies also had not provided details on the Pennsylvania shooter’s encrypted messaging accounts, the ballistic analysis of shots fired and an evidence log related to both assassination attempts.

And it wasn’t just DOJ. The task force was unable to access details related to the Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security and FBI’s review of the second assassination attempt against Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach.

Still, the House report largely aligns with previous congressional and administrative reports, including highlighting the failure to secure the building where the gunman was able to access the roof on July 13. The task force added that the failures by the Secret Service weren’t limited to the day of the shooting, saying “preexisting issues in leadership and training created an environment in which the specific failures identified above could occur.”

In addition to releasing the findings of its investigation, the task force also made a series of recommendations, including that the Secret Service “may benefit” from reducing its number of protectees. Furthermore, the task force said that Congress should consider changes to the Secret Service’s structure, including debating if the agency’s “investigative functions” should remain under the Department of Homeland Security. There is bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for removing the agency as a whole from under the department’s jurisdiction.

The task force also points to possible additional steps for Congress, including requiring the Secret Service have “full ownership” for security planning for high-profile events, more oversight from lawmakers, and requiring Secret Service radio transmissions to be recorded. The report noted that the Secret Service did not arrange or attend any meetings with state and local counterparts on the day of the Butler rally, for example, and that there was not an agreement leading up to the rally in which the law enforcement agency was in charge of securing the building where the gunman ultimately accessed the roof.

Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. told the task force during its final public hearing that the agency had implemented changes in the wake of the July 13 shooting including increasing the use of drones and counter-drone technology, making structural changes within the Secret Service and increasing Trump’s detail during the final months of the campaign.

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Congress

Texas Republican is under House Ethics investigation

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24 minutes ago

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July 27, 2026

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The House Ethics Committee said in a statement Monday it is investigating Rep. Lance Gooden, a four-term Texas Republican.

It’s unclear what the committee is probing, but the Office of Congressional Conduct, an independent investigative branch of the House, sent over findings regarding Gooden to the committee June 10.

The Ethics panel plans to release an update on its investigation by Nov. 9. Committee representatives declined to comment beyond the statement.

In 2021, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint asking for an investigation into Gooden’s apparent failure to report his stock trades in a timely manner, which is a requirement under a federal law known as the STOCK Act. The complaint was sent to the OCC.

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Congressional Black Caucus members break with Jeffries, endorse against Thanedar in Michigan House race

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1 hour ago

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July 27, 2026

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A handful of members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Monday broke with Democratic Party leadership to endorse Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney in his bid to primary Rep. Shri Thanedar, an unusual move given that sitting members of the same party rarely endorse against each other.

Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford (Nev.), the former chair of the CBC, and Lateefah Simon (Calif.) called McKinney a “fighter.” Rep. Ilhan Omar (Mich.) praised McKinney as “the only trusted candidate” in the race. And Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) touted McKinney for “never [losing] sight of the people.”

“We need Donavan in Congress,” said Pressley.

The race between McKinney and Thanedar, who was elected in 2022, is the latest battleground in the ongoing ideological clash between the Democratic establishment and its progressive flank.

McKinney is hoping to capitalize on the latest wave of progressive successes in primaries, but Thanedar retains the power of the incumbency — and the backing of House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar.

Thanedar’s 2022 election marked the first time since 1955 that the majority-Black city of Detroit didn’t have a Black lawmaker representing it in Congress. And he won two years ago only after Adam Hollier, who was viewed as his most credible primary challenger, was disqualified from the ballot.

“It’s not just about having Black representation, but that is a part of what appropriate representation looks for,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who had previously backed McKinney, told Blue Light News. “You have a majority-Black district, and I think that there is certainly an appetite to see that again, or to at least make sure that a Black candidate has the opportunity to present themselves.”

In a phone call, Thanedar emphasized that he has worked closely with members of the CBC during his time in office, noting that the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) was a mentor of his and, in addition to Jeffries, he has the endorsement CBC members like Rep. Bennie Thomspon (D-Miss.).

“I am fully aware that I am representing the Blackest city in America and I’m proud of it,” Thanedar, who is Indian-American, said. “My story is like Detroit’s story — I struggled through poverty, never say die, never gave up and I have that resilience that Detroit has. The resilience of Detroit is what my life is about.”

McKinney on Monday said he was “honored” by the endorsements.

“Millions of lives across the country have been made immeasurably better because of the hard work these members have done in Congress, and I look forward to working alongside these incredible leaders to pass critical legislation to protect voting rights, get big money out of our politics, and ensure all families have access to the resources they need to not just survive, but to truly thrive,” he said in a statement.

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Fetterman says Democrats were ‘horribly wrong’ to try eliminating Senate filibuster

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3 hours ago

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July 27, 2026

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Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is backpedaling on his previous calls to eliminate the filibuster in the Senate — which is a critical bulwark against “a fill-in-the-blank government with new laws, deregulation or procedures of its choosing,” he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Monday.

“A Senate without the filibuster [would become] a Senate that ignored the voices of the minority and everyday people,” he wrote, elaborating on previous comments. Last month, he told Katie Miller that Democrats were “so wrong” about opposing the filibuster.

“We cannot become a smaller version of the House of Representatives,” he wrote in his op-ed.

In 2022, Fetterman campaigned to abolish the filibuster, a 60-vote rule that effectively requires a supermajority to pass most legislation. His argument on the trail — which remains on his campaign website as of Monday afternoon — was that the rule stood “in the way of getting things done for Pennsylvanians.”

At that time, many Senate Democrats and activists argued the same publicly, as the party attempted to pass a sweeping overhaul of elections that Democrats said would better protect voting rights. But two then-Democratic senators, Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) — protested against throwing out the rule, saying it would hurt the party’s priorities in the long run.

Ultimately the filibuster survived and Democrats did not pass their voting rights bill, with much of the party base heaping scorn on Manchin and Sinema.

Now, with Republicans holding a government trifecta, the power dynamic has flipped.

President Donald Trump is now urging Republican senators to kill the filibuster, which has stalled passage of the SAVE America Act. He turned the screws on Majority Leader John Thune on Monday, demanding that Thune keep the Senate in session until the GOP-backed elections bill passes.

“John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

The filibuster has been a block against GOP-championed causes, Fetterman argued: “We could have extreme policies such as nationwide abortion restrictions, backpedaling on LGBT rights, repeal of birthright citizenship and limited voting rights across the country. … Republicans could fundamentally change the entire government and country with a simple majority vote.”

With the midterms approaching, Democrats face a tight battle to win back the Senate. The next time they have a trifecta, the filibuster will — once again — be a thorn in the party’s side, complicating the passage of key priorities.

Democrats “will once again have to find common ground with our Republican colleagues,” Fetterman said. “We will need to abandon our worst impulses as a party and work together to find solutions to the problems Americans face.”

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