Rep. Bruce Westerman (AR-04)

 Earlier this month, our nation was shaken to its core after an assassination attempt on President Trump in Pennsylvania. The tragic loss of Corey Comperatore, a firefighter and devoted father, in this horrific act has left us all reeling. My prayers are with Corey’s loved ones as they grapple with this unimaginable loss.

In the hours and days following the shooting, many questions arose about the security flaws and failures that allowed the would-be assassin to open fire on the former President, especially at such a largely attended event.

The House Oversight Committee promptly called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to explain what went wrong in Pennsylvania. Rather than providing some much-needed transparency to the American people, she refused to cooperate, failed to take responsibility, and elected to point fingers. Her failure to cooperate forced House Republican leadership to issue a subpoena for her to appear before Congress on Monday for testimony and questioning.

 After hours of insufficient responses, it became abundantly clear that Cheatle had no plan to prevent history from repeating itself. After pressure from individuals on both sides of the aisle, Cheatle rightfully resigned from her position as Director of the Secret Service.

In addition, a bipartisan group of Members toured the site of the attempted assassination and spoke directly to witnesses from the Pennsylvania State Police and the Fraternal Order of Police to further examine the facts and the multiple failures in communication between Secret Service and local law enforcement and local law enforcement that led to the tragedy. Many of the details being uncovered are alarming, and more questions remain unanswered. Rest assured, my colleagues and I remain committed to continuing oversight efforts to provide some much-needed transparency and accountability.

The Secret Service must fulfill its no-fail mission to protect our nation’s leaders and innocent bystanders, like Corey Comperatore, from senseless acts like we witnessed on July 13th. This week, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously voted to establish a bipartisan task force, officially launching a comprehensive investigation into the attempted assassination and Secret Service’s shortcomings. The American people deserve transparency, and this task force will be a critical step in providing the answers necessary to ensure tragedies like this never happen again.