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Four Republicans on the task force investigating Trump’s assassination attempt left the visit.
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A bipartisan group was formed to investigate the day’s potential shortcomings.
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It’s unclear why some of the task force’s GOP members skipped the visit to Butler, PA.
Four Republicans on the task force investigating former President Donald Trump’s attempted assassination failed to show up for Monday’s visit, according to the Washington Post.
The bipartisan task force was created by a unanimous House vote in late July, two weeks after a would-be assassin shot Trump during an outdoor rally and grazed his ear.
The 12-member task force is made up of seven Republicans and five Democrats and has full House investigative powers, including subpoena powers.
But only three GOP representatives were in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Monday for the group’s first visit to the scene of the shooting, the Post reported.
Aside from Rep. Mark Kelly, the task force’s ranking member, the only other Republicans present were David Joyce (Ohio) and Laurel Lee (Fla.).
Reps. Mark Green (Tenn.), Michael Waltz (Fla.), Clay Higgins (La.) and Pat Fallon (Tex.) were not among the visiting lawmakers, according to the Post. The press added that the reason for their absence was not disclosed at the press conference.
Kelly said there is no substitute for being there.
“It’s the difference between day and night,” he said, according to The New York Times. “When you’re actually here on this surface, when you’re actually walking on these grounds, when you’re actually going into the building, when you’re actually on the roof.”
The attempt on Trump’s life led to great publicity and intense scrutiny of the Secret Service and its possible failures to get the shooter so close.
It was the closest assassination attempt on a US president or presidential candidate since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
The motives of the Secret Service shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, remain unknown.
A video on Waltz’s Facebook page suggested that the congressman join Trump at Arlington National Cemetery instead of attending an on-site visit to commemorate the 13 soldiers who died as the US pulls out of Afghanistan in 2021.
A spokesperson for Waltz told Business Insider that the congressman was “already committed” to the ceremony, which “meant a lot to him” before the visit.
“He hopes to receive all the relevant briefings soon,” the spokesman added.
Waltz has previously expressed frustration with the task force’s pace of progress, telling the New York Post just last week that he’s “frustrated with how slowly and how little we’ve learned.”
He has also questioned, without evidence, whether the shooter acted alone, the NY Post reported.
Based on their social media posts, it’s unclear how Green, Higgins and Fallon spent Monday. Lawmakers did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Higgins visited Butler as early as August 8 in an attempt to prepare a detailed “preliminary investigative report” which he presented to Kelly on August 12.
He is among 16 Republican figures criticized for fueling conspiracy theories about the FBI’s involvement in the Jan. 6 uprising.
Along with the bipartisan effort, MAGA-leaning GOP lawmakers have held their own hearings on the assassination attempt, inviting figures such as Dan Bongino, a former member of the Secret Service, and Erik Prince, a businessman and former SEAL, to assess the Secret Service’s performance.
Speaking on the War Room podcast last week, Rep. Eli Crane, who is not on the task force, said the bipartisan committee can’t be trusted not to be “political” in its investigation.
“We don’t trust the federal government to actually do the work that’s needed,” he added, according to the Times.
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