House underlines security failures around Trump shooting

A bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives on Monday affirmed the findings of other investigations—that poor communication and other problems led up to the attempted assassination in Butler, Penn.

The Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump, a bipartisan group of 13 lawmakers in the House of Representatives, released the interim report. Its preliminary findings concluded that communication shortcomings had enabled the attempt on former President Trump’s life on July 13. The report focuses on nearly two dozen transcribed interviews with local law enforcement officials, thousands of pages of documents from local and federal authorities, and the group’s public hearing last month.

What does it say? The document breaks down the events of July 13 in five chronological overviews, starting with what it called advanced planning failures, and ending with the autopsy and toxicology findings performed on the body of Thomas Matthew Crooks. Authorities have the 20-year-old as the assailant who fired at Trump, clipping the edge of his ear, killing one bystander and injuring others.

Throughout that timeline, congressional investigators found that preparations were inadequate, the event lacked a consolidated command post, and communications were slow between law enforcement groups.

The House task force on Monday did not make any final recommendations. It plans to continue investigating the attack in the coming months. It anticipates receiving expanded jurisdiction to probe the second attempt on Trump’s life which took place at a golf course in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Sept. 15.

In that incident, a lone gunman was allegedly discovered on the golf course by the Secret Service, caught and detained before he could attack the former president. The alleged would-be assailant, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, faces five felony counts including possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.

According to the task force’s authorization resolution, which provides investigators their authority and jurisdiction, the group must present final findings by December 13, 2024.

What’s the context of this report? The House task force isn’t the only body looking into the former President’s brush with death in July. It is now the third report published in recent weeks evaluating the assassination attempt. Its findings closely mirror its two predecessors.

One, published by the Department of Homeland Security last Thursday, found similar communication flaws and recommended an overhaul of the Secret Service’s structure and field requirements. Separately, an internal review published by the Secret Service itself on Sept. 20 focused on flaws in coordination—especially between federal and local law enforcement.

Dig deeper: Read my in-the-room reporting from the House’s first public hearing on the Butler assassination attempt and what witnesses said at that hearing.