Top Pa. House Republican calls for special committee to investigate Trump assassination attempt

The top Republican in the Pennsylvania House on Friday called for the formation of a bipartisan special committee to investigate the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump in Western Pennsylvania.

State Rep. Bryan Cutler (R., Lancaster), the House minority leader, introduced a resolution to create a select committee to probe how state and local law enforcement planned for and responded on the day of the shooting.

However, his Democratic counterpart, House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia), seemed to dismiss the idea Friday, with a spokesperson saying the speaker “is confident that the FBI and Congress have the tools necessary for comprehensive investigations,” including the cooperation of state and local police.

That leaves the fate and timing of Cutler’s proposal unclear. Democrats have controlled the chamber this session, but are in a numeric minority as of this week following two resignations. Both seats are in Philadelphia and considered safely blue. Special elections are scheduled for Sept. 17.

State lawmakers are in summer recess and are not scheduled to return to Harrisburg until mid-September.

» READ MORE: Trump recounts assassination attempt in Butler at the top of his RNC address, pays tribute to slain firefighter

Last weekend, a gunman splayed atop a building fired an assault rifle at Trump during a rally, clipping his right ear with a bullet, killing an attendee, and wounding two others.

Since the shooting, the United States Secret Service and its law enforcement partners have come under intense scrutiny over how a would-be assassin was able to climb atop a roof with a rifle less than 150 yards from a former president. The Washington Post reported that local police told the Secret Service they did not have manpower available to secure the building where the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, positioned himself.

In a statement, Cutler said a committee, to be made up of three Republicans and three Democrats, “is not to assign blame.”

He said the group would identify operational deficiencies and improve coordination ahead of large-scale events in the coming years, including expected political rallies this year and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.

“Pennsylvania is a political battleground state that will be the epicenter of many high-level campaign events during the remainder of the 2024 election season,” Cutler said. “It is imperative we identify what happened from a state and local perspective on July 13 as we seek to perfect our effectiveness at keeping citizens and candidates safe as they host campaign events in Pennsylvania.”

The proposal comes as lawmakers in Washington are still probing for answers about the Secret Service’s handling of the Butler event.

“I think we all have the same basic question, which is why, when you have a presidential candidate standing at a podium in an open setting, where there weren’t 100 buildings to secure, why that building was not secure?” U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) said Wednesday during a visit to Harrisburg.

“You don’t have to be a law enforcement professional to ask that kind of fundamental question,” he said.

Staff writer Gillian McGoldrick contributed reporting.