The House Oversight Committee will receive a bipartisan briefing Tuesday from the Secret Service on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump and is planning for a public hearing on the matter next week.
A lone gunman targeted Mr. Trump, grazing his right ear with a bullet, during the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s campaign rally Saturday in Butler County, Pennsylvania. One rallygoer was killed and two others suffered critical injuries.
Lawmakers have raised questions about the Secret Service protection at the event and how the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, could fire several rounds before being shot dead.
Crooks fired at Mr. Trump from the rooftop of a building less than 150 yards from the event stage before Secret Service agents quickly returned fire and killed him.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, said Monday on Fox News that his panel will receive a briefing Tuesday from the Secret Service “as to what they know thus far.”
That will be followed next Monday with a “full-scale committee hearing that will hopefully deliver some answers that every American has about what went wrong,” he said.
The committee has asked Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at the July 22 hearing.
“I’m 100% confident that’s going to happen,” Mr. Comer said. “We’ve been communicating back and forth with the director. By next Monday, she should have a lot of answers to a lot of questions that not only the Oversight Committee has but the American people have.”
Mr. Comer said in addition to reviewing security decisions around Saturday’s rally, the committee hearing will help determine if the Secret Service is “in a better shape moving forward” to protect Mr. Trump and President Biden. He said he also believes the Secret Service should be protecting independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Reps. Mike Lawler and Ritchie Torres, a Republican and Democrat from New York, have introduced legislation to require the Secret Service to provide enhanced protection to all three presidential candidates.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.