U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean urges expansion of Trump shooting investigation to include Florida assassination attempt

U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean said Monday she wants the congressional task force already investigating the Butler County assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump to look into Sunday’s assassination attempt at his Florida golf club.

“Certainly we are looking at the same very related sets of issues, so to me it makes sense to consolidate the two and it makes it only more urgent that we continue our work,” Dean said, a Democrat who represents Montgomery County and serves on the special committee.

She said she would leave the decision of whether to pursue legislation allowing the task force to investigate the Florida incident to the committee’s leadership.

The panel’s chair, Rep. Mike Kelly (R., Erie), did not respond to a question from The Inquirer, but said in a statement Sunday that the task force had requested a briefing.

Sunday’s would-be assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, was charged with federal gun crimes on Monday. Secret Service agents opened fire after seeing him, with a firearm, near Trump while he was golfing on Sunday.

The incident marked the second assassination attempt against the former president in less than three months, a fact that Dean called shocking and sobering.

She said it underlined a need for a unified voice against political violence.

“The Secret Service needs more resources, we can see that already from our investigation without even coming to a conclusion,” Dean said. “We can tell they are taxed, they are stretched too thin and we must do better.”

Dean is one of three Pennsylvanians on the task force investigating the shooting at Trump’s Butler County rally.

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D., Chester), another member of the committee, noted the panel’s request for a briefing on the Florida assassination attempt.

“I expect to hear more ... from our leadership shortly on whether we will expand the scope of our current investigation,” Houlahan said in a statement.