Task force getting information on assassination attempt from FBI
CONNOQUENESSING TWP — The Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump has received “partial information” from federal agencies working on investigations of the July 13 assassination attempt of the former president, members of the group said Monday, Aug. 26.
The task force consisting of 13 members of the House of Representatives on Monday toured the Butler Farm Show grounds, to get a firsthand look at how the would-be assassin was able to shoot Trump and three others at Trump’s July rally at the grounds.
After the tour, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, said the task force has contacted agencies including the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service for information regarding the investigation, but the committee is focused on accurate information rather than speedy information.
“We’ve made requests ... we did have a phone conversation last week with the FBI,” Kelly said. “None of us are looking at it as, ‘We have to get a quick answer,’ we’re looking at, ‘We have to get the right answer.’”
Members of the task force assembled at the farm show grounds around 2 p.m. They walked around the grassy area where just a month-and-a-half earlier thousands of people gathered for Trump’s campaign speech before shots rang out from the AGR International building on Meridian Road.
The representatives could be seen on the roof of the AGR International building, where the shooter fired from before being shot and killed.
Kelly said looking at pictures of the scene compared to being on top of the building was “day and night.”
“The big thing for us being here today was to actually be on the ground, get familiar with the ground, get comfortable with the questions we were going to ask because of the way it was laid out,” Kelly said.
Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., said he wants to know who was responsible for the organization of the rally. He visited the farm show grounds July 22, alongside many members who are now on the task force.
“I want to know who makes ultimately the decisions,” Correa said. “The Secret Service says, ‘Do X,’ the campaign says, ‘Do not do that.’ Who decides? And then ultimately, who is responsible for the outcome?”
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., the ranking Democratic member on the task force, said the members would not comment whom the task force planned to speak with, after being asked if they would speak to the shooter’s family and community.
He said, however, the task force has not seen evidence the shooter was not acting alone.
“I think it’s too early to make that determination, but at this moment I don’t think anyone on the task force has seen any hard evidence that would suggest that would be the case,” Crow said.
Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., said the task force is speaking with people who were at the rally, from private citizens to law enforcement officials from local and state departments. She added that the committee has the ability to subpoena people to help get further information.
“We have heard from a number of federal agencies, the Secret Service, we’ve been in contact with the FBI, we’ve had a briefing with the FBI,” Lee said. “We also have heard and have had an opportunity to interview many of the men and women from state and local law enforcement who were a critical part of the security procedure on that day.”
The task force has set a deadline of Dec. 13 to submit a final report on its findings.
Members of the group Monday said the bipartisan task force is working to keep political candidates and their supporters from being targets of violence.
“What we hope to do here today is to help restore confidence in the American people that their elected officials and their candidates are secure,” Crow said. “We’re going to conduct a full, thorough and robust investigation and it’s going to be done in a bipartisan way.”
Butler Township Commissioner Sam Zurzolo and Connoquenessing Township supervisor Angela Fleeger were at the Trump rally, and were present at the farm show in July and on Monday. Fleeger said a member of the task force, Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., has been in touch with her and Zurzolo since his July visit to the farm show, and he and Kelly are keeping local leaders abreast of the situation.
