In the News

By Riley Beggin

WASHINGTON – Members of a bipartisan House panel already had one assassination attempt against Donald Trump to investigate. Now, lawmakers are ramping up their inquiry after the Secret Service intercepted a gunman at a Trump golf course in Florida on Sunday.

Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., chair and ranking member of the task force created to investigate the July near-miss attempt on Trump's life, said in a joint statement they have requested a briefing with the Secret Service "about what happened and how security responded."

"We are thankful that the former President was not harmed, but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms," they said. "The Task Force will share updates as we learn more."

Multiple members of the task force said it was unclear Monday when the full committee

Secret Service briefing will happen, but that they hope it can come together this week. Trump was golfing at his club in West Palm Beach on Sunday when agents opened fire on a man with a gun in the bushes near the edge of the course. The man dropped a rifle, two backpacks, a GoPro camera and other items and fled before being taken into custody.

Local officials said the suspect is Ryan Routh, 58, who records show is from Hawaii and was a longtime voter in North Carolina. He is a registered Democrat and an impassioned supporter of Ukraine's defense against Russia.

Trump was the target of an assassination attempt in July, when gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire during a rally in western Pennsylvania. Trump was grazed in the ear, producing iconic images of the bloodied former president, and one bystander was killed. 

Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper.

That shooting prompted intense scrutiny of Trump's security detail, leading to the creation of the Congressional task force and a House Oversight Committee hearing in which former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle admitted it was the biggest security failure in decades for the protective agency. Cheatle resigned shortly afterwards.

Ronald Rowe Jr., who took over as acting Secret Service Director, also told a joint Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committee hearing that local law enforcement failed to communicate about the shooter's presence.

The House's bipartisan task force investigating that shooting is under a tight deadline: They have a mid-December deadline to issue their findings of what went wrong and make any recommendations for legislation that could prevent another assassination attempt. Kelly and Crow's joint statement indicates they are interested in including Sunday's shooting attempt in their ongoing probe, though Congress would likely need to approve the expanded inquiry.

“Our (investigation) scope was actually set in a measure that we voted on, but my understanding is that there’s precedent to basically amend that,” said Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., who said that it is likely that the inquiry will expand to include the incident at Trump's golf course Sunday. "There’s a lot of overlap anyway.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News on Monday that "Congress will act swiftly" on lawmakers' recommendations. "We need accountability. We must demand that this job is being done," he said.

Johnson added that the task force will hold hearings "not this week but next" and added that there is an interim report due by the end of next week.

What lawmakers want to know

Four task force members who spoke with USA TODAY agreed there is a clear question that needs answering: How did another potential shooter come this close to Trump?

"I obviously want to understand what went wrong, how we can make sure it doesn't happen again, and also how we can make sure that we create a sense of trust and faith on behalf of the American people and all of the institutions that are involved in this," said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.

Some raised concerns that Trump is receiving less Secret Service protection than a sitting president. Waltz said the level of protection should be “threat based” and not tied to whether he currently is in office.

Members of the task force met Friday with Rowe, who told them that Trump's detail had been elevated to the level of a sitting president, Waltz said. But the Palm Beach sheriff said if that was the case, the entire golf course would have been surrounded by law enforcement.

“So that’s a disconnect,” Waltz said. “We have flagged that for Secret Service leadership.”

Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., told USA TODAY that President Joe Biden had requested additional security for Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. "But it might be that still more needs to be done," he said. "There's a lot of anger out there in the streets and there's 400 million guns. It's not a great combination at the moment."

Ivey said another question he has is how the suspect got his hands on an AK-47, given he has previously plead guilty to a felony involving a gun. And "how did this guy know to be out there on the golf course?" Ivey added. "Is that just a coincidence? Did he follow a motorcade? That's something we need to know, I think, to make sure that there's nothing nefarious going on there."

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said that he has also been soliciting information from whistleblowers about the attempted assassination of Trump in July. He released a report with his findings on Monday and said he shared them with the House panel to help with their investigation.

"I'm stunned, I'm shocked, I'm sickened about what might have happened yesterday," said Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa. "We must get at the truth. We must make sure that candidates and elected and the company they keep, the people who just want to be around them and learn what they stand for, are protected and kept safe."

Other Congressional leaders also said Sunday that they were briefed on the incident. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement that he spoke to Rowe on Sunday.

"I applaud the Secret Service for their quick response to ensure former President Trump’s safety," he said. “There is no place in this country for political violence of any kind. The perpetrator must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” 

Johnson said on X that he and his wife spent a few hours with Trump at Mar-a-Lago following the apparent assassination attempt. "No leader in American history has endured more attacks and remained so strong and resilient," he said. "He is unstoppable."

Johnson told Fox News that Trump was in "really good spirits" when they met. "God has spared his life twice now."

Zac Anderson contributed.

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