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Rep. August Pfluger is jumping into the race to lead the Republican Study Committee on Tuesday, opting to make his bid official after building a policy pitch with input from most members of the policy-minded group.

Pfluger, a 46-year-old from West Texas in his second term, will begin passing his pamphlet out to offices later Tuesday, in which he leans on his leadership experience and record of being a team player.

The Texas conservative will take on Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.), a Freedom Caucus member already officially in the race. And other members could still jump in the race.

Asked to differentiate his campaign from Cline’s, Pfluger pointed to his strengths and what he believes he can bring to the table, including the ability to build consensus around ideas, listen to fellow members, and help RSC colleagues based on their strengths and interests. And he highlighted his ability to adapt quickly to changing environments and circumstances, noting he often had to do so as a longtime Air Force fighter pilot.

“I take it very seriously what members are saying. I think RSC has been the most important organization I’ve been a part of,” Pfluger told POLITICO in an exclusive interview, ahead of his official launch.

“In the trifecta, let’s leverage the largest organization in the Republican conference to have our voice heard, and to achieve [our] agenda. … There’s so much work to do to overcome what has been done in the last four years. The RSC is going to have to play a really, really large role in doing that,” he added, speaking about the potential for Republicans to control the White House and both chambers of Congress.

His vision includes reviewing Article 1 authority to Congress, “refocusing” on national security and “reimagining” the political arm of the RSC, the largest House Republican caucus. He’s also preparing for an early budget reconciliation fight that RSC can lead on, and he wants to establish “RSC House rules strategy.”

As part of reimagining the RSC’s political arm, Pfluger wants to take the Conservative House Fund to “new heights” and “create a new organization to defend member votes,” his handout reads.

His plan is dependent on how the November election shakes out. The secret ballot vote for RSC chair will take place a week after the November election. Outgoing and incoming members are not able to participate. There is also a candidate forum on Sept. 18.

But don’t hold your breath for a mudslinging campaign battle. Pfluger repeatedly declined contrasting himself with Cline or other potential candidates, instead leaning on the skills he can bring to the table.

“Ben Cline is a great friend, a man of character and integrity. … We’re not running against each other. We’re making a case for why we think we should be chairman,” Pfluger said.

Cline, who is similarly vowing to help enact former President Donald Trump’s agenda if he wins, told Breitbart News during his launch that he is particularly focused on fiscal responsibility while citing his role as chair of the caucus’ Budget Task Force.

“This position helps to prepare you for that process of building coalitions behind conservative policies and advancing those policies forward,” Cline told the conservative outlet last month, underlining the long list of RSC chairs who held the Budget chair role before leading the group.

Cline is also leaning into the need to revise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Virginian voted against the reauthorization of the controversial foreign surveillance tool, while Pfluger voted in support of its passage.

Both Pfluger and Cline have allies throughout the conference and are sure to have some platform overlap as they vie for the job, which could largely boil down to relationships and their vision for the role. The current caucus leader, Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), is termed out at the end of this year.

Pfluger said in addition to Hern, he met with as many past RSC chairs as possible, including Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.). He said he will also be meeting with former Vice President Mike Pence on the matter.

Banks, who praised the competition as a sign of RSC’s relevancy, spoke highly of both candidates. But he gave a particularly glowing review of Pfluger.

“August Pfluger is respected by everybody. And when I look at the Republican conference in the house, August Pfluger is the future. I think very highly of him,” Banks said Monday night.

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Feds discover transcripts of Biden chats with biographer

The Justice Department told a federal judge late Monday that it has located transcripts it previously denied having of President Joe Biden’s talks with a biographer that played a role in the recently completed criminal investigation into Biden’s handling of classified material before he became president.

In the wake of a report special counsel Robert Hur issued in February that described Biden as “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the Justice Department has been swamped with Freedom of Information Act requests and lawsuits demanding access to various records related to Hur’s probe.

Some of the requests came from news outlets, while others originated with conservative groups apparently seeking to obtain information that could reinforce doubts about Biden’s mental acuity and fitness for the presidency. Nagging concerns about those issues, particularly after a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last month, helped drive Biden’s announcement Sunday that he is dropping his bid for reelection.

It’s unclear whether his exit from the race will affect the handling of Hur’s materials by the Justice Department, which has argued that the release of audio of Biden’s interviews with Hur would violate the president’s privacy, lead to potential abuse — such as deepfakes — and deter other witnesses from agreeing to recorded interviews. Biden asserted executive privilege over the audio recordings of his interviews in a bid to head off House Republicans’ effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to release the recordings.

At a hearing last month, DOJ lawyers handling one Freedom of Information case told U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich that it would be highly time-consuming to process other audio files containing Biden’s interviews with writer Mark Zwonitzer. The attorneys said those recordings stretched to 70 hours and reviewing audio for potential classified material is far more difficult than written material.

“We don’t have some transcript that’s been created by the special counsel that we can attest to its accuracy,” Justice Department lawyer Cameron Silverberg told Friedrich at the June 18 hearing on a suit brought by the conservative Heritage Foundation.

However, Silverberg said in a court filing Monday night that the department “in the past few days” confirmed that Hur’s office had transcripts made of a portion of Biden’s discussions with Zwonitzer, which occurred as Biden worked with him on memoirs published in 2007 and 2017. Prosecutors determined that some of those conversations contained classified information, although they were barred by Justice Department policy from pursuing charges against a sitting president and said they would not have done so in any event because of the imprecision of Biden’s memory and other factors.

“In the past few days…the Department located six electronic files, consisting of a total of 117 pages, that appeared to be verbatim transcripts of a small subset of the Biden-Zwonitzer audio recordings created for the SCO by a court-reporting service,” Silverberg wrote in the new filing.

In its efforts to wade through the records being demanded by conservative groups and news organizations, the Justice Department also reversed itself on another matter, the new filing reveals.

DOJ officials had resisted requests from Heritage to contact Hur and find out what materials he relied upon for key portions of his report, but amidst the confusion over the transcripts, it reached out to another unnamed person involved in Hur’s probe, according to the filing.

When that person was unavailable, the Justice Department relented and contacted Hur directly, the new submission says.

In a conversation with the former special counsel, Hur acknowledged relying on the Biden-Zwonitzer audio — as well as a portion of Biden’s handwritten notes pertaining to a memo about Afghanistan — to compile his report. Silverberg said he would confer with the parties seeking access to Hur’s materials about whether they would like Biden’s notes processed for potential release as well.

Friedrich has set a hearing in the case for Tuesday morning.

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Nancy Mace to force a vote on impeaching Secret Service director

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) moved on Monday night to force a vote on impeaching Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle — teeing up a high-profile referendum on the House floor for this week.

Mace is able to take the step without buy-in from leadership. Instead, they will have two days to hold a vote on the House floor on her impeachment resolution, which accuses Cheatle of dereliction of duty.

It would need a simple majority to clear the House. Speaker Mike Johnson’s office didn’t immediately respond to questions about how they would handle the resolution — but lawmakers could also try to pigeonhole it for now by sending it to committee or setting it aside.

“Just filed a privileged motion to impeach Kim Cheatle, Director of the Secret Service. This will force a vote within the next 48 hours,” Mace wrote on X, shortly after she filed her resolution on the House floor.

The rush to impeach Cheatle comes as she’s facing growing bipartisan criticism, including new calls Monday from several House Democrats for her to resign in the wake of the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.

Cheatle appeared for hours before the House Oversight Committee, where she sparked frustration from members in both parties who felt like she wasn’t answering questions. Several members of the panel told her during the hearing that they believe she should resign or be fired, while Mace told her that she was “full of shit.”

Even as Democrats are joining Republicans in pushing for Cheatle to step down, it wasn’t immediately clear how many — if any — would support voting to impeach her. Republicans would need near unity within their own ranks if they don’t get any help from Democrats.

Several congressional committees are currently investigating the shooting at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania. FBI Director Christopher Wray will appear before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

In addition to Mace’s resolution, Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) said earlier on Monday that he intended to file articles of impeachment.

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House GOP leaders mull floor vote condemning Harris on handling of border

House GOP leaders are discussing a floor vote this week to condemn Vice President Kamala Harris over her handling of the border, according to three Republicans with knowledge of the talks who were granted anonymity to speak frankly about internal discussions.

While the resolution led by House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) isn’t guaranteed to come to the House floor, members were told it was a possibility during a closed-door Republican leadership meeting on Monday night. The decision ultimately rests with Speaker Mike Johnson.

Republicans plan to hammer Harris on the border until Election Day, with the party immediately looking for ways to ding the vice president after Biden’s bombshell drop-out announcement on Sunday.

Stefanik quickly announced the resolution after Biden’s announcement and subsequent support of Harris — marking one of the first legislative steps House Republicans are considering after the seismic shift in Democratic politics.

“I am introducing a resolution condemning Kamala Harris’ role as Joe Biden’s ‘Border czar’ leading to the most catastrophic open border crisis in history,” Stefanik wrote on X on Sunday.

During a private GOP leadership meeting Monday night, the message to members was that they were looking at a Thursday vote on the resolution, according to the third person familiar with the matter. Still, the timing is fluid.

Republicans will need near unity to get the resolution through the House — a frequent challenge for their slim majority. But it is likely to have a better shot than other anti-Biden and anti-Harris options floated by House conservatives, including passing a resolution calling for the 25th Amendment to be invoked against Biden or trying to impeach either of them.

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Secret Service director infuriates lawmakers with vague answers on Trump shooting

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle utterly failed Monday to reassure lawmakers that she was still the best person for the job after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, instead prompting members from both parties to call for her resignation in real time.

During the nearly five-hour long hearing in front of the Oversight Committee, members of the typically polarized committee united in questioning how Cheatle could remain on the job and lambasted her for evading inquiries — on everything from the failures that preceded the Trump rally shooting to general questions about the impact of gun violence. It was a particularly rare note of agreement for a panel that has openly and bitterly fought over a broad impeachment investigation into President Joe Biden, and a bad sign for Cheatle’s hopes of hanging on.

“This committee is not known for … its model of bipartisanship, but I think today we came together unanimously in our disappointment in your lack of answers,” Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told Cheatle.

Cheatle’s position seemed to deteriorate as the hearing went on and the number of lawmakers piling on her for non-answers and shrugs began to climb.

Democrats were equally frustrated. Progressive Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) told Cheatle that she didn’t believe “any of our concerns have been addressed today, and what little we’ve learned has not inspired much confidence.” And in a potential precursor of more calls to come, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the panel, and a handful of other Democrats joined widespread GOP calls for Cheatle to resign. Both Comer and Raskin sent a letter to Cheatle officially demanding that she step aside after the hearing concluded.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), one of the Democrats who called on her to resign, compared Cheatle’s performance on Monday to an unrelated hearing earlier this year with three university presidents, two of whom subsequently resigned.

“That’s how this is going for you. This is where this is headed,” he said, saying that he supports Cheatle resigning or being fired.

Republicans and Democrats repeatedly expressed a shared sense of outrage that the world’s premier law enforcement agency could allow a 20-year-old to get a clear shot at the former president.

“You’re not doing well, as Mr. Moskowitz informed you,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) added.

Cheatle acknowledged that the assassination attempt was the “most significant operational failure” for the agency in decades. But she followed that admission with a series of evasive answers about the details of what went wrong, repeatedly citing the ongoing review or deferring to the FBI, which is also leading an investigation.

But that caveat bought her little goodwill with members of the committee. Instead, they repeatedly pressed her to give them answers on details, including how the gunman was able to get on a roof roughly 150 yards away from Trump, why Trump was allowed onto the stage and what actions the Secret Service has taken since the shooting.

“This is not just a single shooting, this is about national security and the security of our democracy,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.). “It’s not just one operational failure. This is about: Are our public officials safe?”

“The answers that we’ve received here in this hearing today are completely unsatisfactory,” Stansbury added.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), in remarks that sparked pushback from Democrats, told Cheatle that she was “full of shit today.” Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a member of the Oversight Committee, added that it looked like she wouldn’t “answer some pretty basic questions.”

Cheatle did delve into some of the circumstances surrounding the Saturday shooting. She told lawmakers that, while she didn’t have a specific number, she believed “there was some sort of communication” about a suspicious individual to the Secret Service between two and five times. She also told lawmakers that the gunman’s vehicle was outside of the security perimeter and that the Secret Service didn’t know the gunman had a weapon when they allowed Trump to walk out onto the stage.

But that was only a fraction of the long list of questions that Cheatle faced on Monday.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) warned Cheatle that the absence of information had helped fuel conspiracy theories about the shooting and that members were “begging” for details to help rebut them.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) called on Cheatle to resign and repeatedly questioned why she wouldn’t. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told her that it was “not acceptable” to wait weeks before giving more detailed answers about the security failures. And Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) asked Cheatle why she was answering “fewer” questions from lawmakers than she did during an ABC News interview that has sparked scrutiny.

“I don’t like the fact that the media has received far more answers than Congress has. … You should have come prepared here today,” Goldman told Cheatle.

Cheatle further rankled Democrats with her refusal to grapple with questions about the dangers guns pose to Secret Service protectees. They specifically pushed her on the threat posed by semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 style rifle used in the Trump shooting.

“The ubiquity of guns, dangerous weapons in America like AR-15s, has that made your job — that is to say the mission of the Secret Service — easier or more difficult?” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) asked.

“I think the threat environment for protecting our Secret Service protectees is always difficult and that’s dynamic,” Cheatle responded, apparently wary of wading into an argument about regulating firearms. “I understand the Second Amendment rights of individuals.”

“I didn’t ask that question. I’m not questioning the Second Amendment,” Connolly shot back. “You’re not making my job easier in terms of assessing your qualifications for continuing on as director.”

Connolly, shortly after the hearing ended, called on Cheatle to resign.

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Judge turns down George Santos’ request to nix some charges ahead of fraud trial

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos on Friday lost a bid to get rid of part of the criminal case against him as he heads toward trial on charges that include defrauding campaign donors.

U.S. District Joanna Seybert turned down Santos’ request to dismiss charges of aggravated identity theft and theft of public money — in all, three of the 23 charges against the New York Republican.

Prosecutors and Santos’ lawyers declined to comment.

Prosecutors have accused Santos of a range of crimes — among them lying to Congress about his wealth, collecting unemployment benefits while actually working, and using campaign contributions to pay for such personal expenses as designer clothing. He pleaded not guilty to a revised indictment in October.

The aggravated identity theft charges pertain to allegations that Santos used campaign donors’ credit card information to make repeated contributions they hadn’t authorized. Prosecutors say he also tried to hide the true source of the money — and evade campaign contribution limits — by listing the donations as coming from some of his relatives and associates, without their assent.

Santos’ lawyers argued in court filings that the aggravated identity theft charges were invalid because, in the defense’s view, the allegations amounted only to overcharging credit card accounts that had been willingly provided to him.

Prosecutors disputed that argument. They said in filings that Santos hadn’t just “used” the credit card information but “abused it, with specific intent to defraud” in order to make his campaign coffers look fuller.

The theft of public funds charge relates to the alleged unemployment fraud.

Santos’ lawyers said the charge improperly combined multiple alleged criminal schemes and transactions. Courts have said in other cases that such combination isn’t allowed for various reasons, including the possibility that jurors could convict on the charge while believing a defendant guilty of only part of it.

Prosecutors in Santos’ case said the theft of public funds charge against him alleges “a single continuing scheme.”

The former Congress member is slated to go on trial in September in Central Islip, on New York’s Long Island.

In April, he dropped his longshot bid to return to Congress as an independent in New York’s 1st Congressional District, on Long Island.

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GOP lawmakers call for Biden to resign presidency after dropout bombshell

Immediately after Joe Biden dropped the bombshell that he was dropping out of the presidential race, congressional Republicans started to openly call for him to resign from the White House now.

Speaker Mike Johnson said in forcing Biden off the ballot that “the self-proclaimed ‘party of democracy’ has proven exactly the opposite” and called for Biden to resign immediately.”

“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,” Johnson said in a statement.

Johnson argued that swapping Biden for Vice President Kamala Harris would do nothing to better their electoral prospects, calling her a “gleeful accomplice” for the administration’s policies.

“If Joe Biden can’t run for re-election, he is unable and unfit to serve as President of the United States. He must immediately resign,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a member of House GOP leadership, posted on X.

GOP leadership in the House wasn’t alone.

“Doesn’t have the mental acuity or cognitive ability to run a political campaign but can serve for 6 more months as president? He should resign,” wrote Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.).

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who’s running to succeed Mitch McConnell as leader of the Senate Republican conference, echoed those calls in a statement.

“Let me be clear, if Joe Biden can’t run for re-election, he is not capable of serving as president for the next six months and needs to resign today,” Scott said. “While we welcome the news that one of America’s most destructive presidents will be denied a second term, it changes very little as to the stakes of this election.”

The head of the Senate GOP campaign arm, Montana’s Steve Daines, called on Biden to resign immediately.

“If Joe Biden is no longer capable of running for re-election, he is no longer capable of serving as President,” Daines said in a statement. “Being President is the hardest job in the world, and I no longer have confidence that Joe Biden can effectively execute his duties as Commander-in-Chief.”

Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), chair of the largest House GOP caucus — the Republican Study Committee — echoed those calls, as well. Similar calls came from lawmakers including Sen. Markwayne Mullin (Okla.) and Rep. Carlos Gimenez (Fla.).

“If Joe Biden is unfit to be the Democrat nominee for president, he’s unfit to be president for the rest of his term,” Hern said. “For the good of the country, Joe Biden should resign immediately.”

The calls for Biden to resign, though prevalent, were not universal among congressional Republicans.

“I respect President Biden’s decision to act in the best interest of the country by stepping aside in the 2024 presidential election,” centrist Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who has said she cannot vote for Trump, said in a post on X.

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Manchin calls on Biden to withdraw from race

Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) said on Sunday he believes it is time for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 race, after previously saying he supported him in the race.

“I came to the decision with a heavy heart that I think it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation,” Manchin said in an interview with host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.” He also called on Biden to step down on ABC’s “This Week,” using very similar phrasing.

“He will go down with a legacy unlike many people, as one of the finest and truly a patriot American,” Manchin said on “This Week.” “So with that I come with a heavy heart to think the time has come for him to pass the torch to a new generation.”

Manchin’s call to withdraw comes after Democratic senators in swing states, such as Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, have made the same plea. He is now the fifth senator to call on Biden to not seek reelection.

The president has reiterated that he does not plan to leave the ticket.

“While the majority of the Democratic caucus and the diverse base of the party continues to stand with the President and his historic record of delivering for their communities, we’re clear-eyed that the urgency and stakes of beating Donald Trump means others feel differently. We all share the same goal: an America where everyone gets a fair shot and freedom and democracy are protected,” Biden campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement. “Unlike Republicans, we’re a party that accepts —and even celebrates — differing opinions, but in the end, we will absolutely come together to beat Donald Trump this November.”

Manchin, who was elected as a Democrat but became an independent on May 31, also supported an open primary process for Democrats as the next step if Biden were to step down. He did not name Vice President Kamala Harris, but said there is “a lot of talent on the bench,” and the former West Virginia governor said he is “partial to governors.”

“A governor can’t afford to be partial, they can’t afford to be partisan, strictly because that pothole or that bridges doesn’t have a D or an R on it,” Manchin said. “I’ve got two tremendous governors right next door to me, Andy Beshear in Kentucky and Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, who are operating with legislatures either evenly split or completely opposite of their party affiliation. They haven’t divided their state.”

He added, “This is what an open process would do. I think it would bring more people out in a process that could bring Democrats like me back.”

Manchin said he didn’t know what that open process would look like considering there are only three weeks until the Democratic National Convention, but that once they get to the convention, everything will change. He also ruled out a presidential run for himself, saying he would rather support a “new generation.”

“People keep talking about race and gender — it’s not about race and gender, it’s about positions, it’s about basically who we are,” Manchin said. “I left the Democrat Party because it’s not the Democratic Party that I grew up in, that I always knew.”

The independent senator, who has had his own disagreements with the president over the past four years, said he wants Biden to stay in the presidency through November.

He specifically said in five months Biden could “help heal this nation” and “bring the world together” — and that the president should be solely focused on that.

“That takes a full-time 24/7 president not being worried about where you got to go campaign, got to give a speech, got to go out, raise money,” Manchin said. “And I think his legacy will be one of the greatest legacies of any of our leaders.”

Manchin added that as someone who has been through statewide campaigns, it is challenging “to anybody physically, mentally, every way, shape and form.”

“Right now, the country and the world needs our President Joe Biden with a compassion he’s always had and the ability to bring people together, to use all of his forces and energy toward that,” Manchin said.

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House set to vote on forming Trump shooting investigative task force

The House is set to vote this week on establishing a bipartisan task force to investigate the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.

The resolution would establish an 11-member panel — six Republicans and five Democrats. It’s currently teed up to get a vote under suspension, meaning a higher passage threshold that will require Democratic help.

The move to establish the task force, which was added to the House’s weekly schedule on Sunday night, comes as multiple congressional panels have already teed up probes into the shooting. But Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated he wants to use the task force to focus the House’s efforts. He is expected to release additional details Monday.

The resolution would also require the task force to make a final report on its findings and legislative proposals no later than Dec. 13.

Much of the early congressional ire has been focused on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who will appear before the House Oversight Committee starting at 10 a.m. on Monday.

Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) will tell Cheatle when she appears before his panel that it is his “firm belief” that she should resign, according to excerpts of his opening statement obtained by POLITICO.

“However — in complete defiance — Director Cheatle has maintained she will not tender her resignation. Therefore, she will answer questions today from members of this committee seeking to provide clarity to the American people about how these events were allowed to transpire,” Comer will say, according to the excerpts.

It’s not just Republicans who are calling for her resignation. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) became the first House Democrat to call for Cheatle’s resignation over the weekend, saying that “evidence coming to light has shown unacceptable operational failures” and that he has “no confidence” in Secret Service leadership if she stays.

Cheatle, according to excerpts of her own opening statement, will tell lawmakers that she takes “full responsibility for any security lapse” and will cooperate with congressional oversight and other investigations.

“We must learn what happened and I will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like July 13th does not happen again. Thinking about what we should have done differently is never far from my thoughts,” she will add.

In addition to the Oversight hearing, House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) is leading a bipartisan visit to the site of Trump’s rally on Monday. FBI Director Christopher Wray will testify before the House Judiciary panel on Wednesday, and the House is also expected to get a classified briefing this week.

Green on Monday said that Cheatle “has rightfully admitted the near assassination of a former president was a failure. She even said the buck stops with her.”

“For the good of this country, Director Cheatle must resign immediately,” he added.

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Lawmakers visit Butler, walk on roof where suspect shot at Trump, rallygoers

During a visit Monday to the site of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, lawmakers climbed onto the roof used to open fire on the rally and later expressed deep doubts about official explanations for why Secret Service agents weren’t stationed there.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has said agents weren’t put on the roof because the slope made it unsafe. But House Homeland Security members said they walked around on the roof Monday without difficulty.

“I can tell you that, just looking at the site, immediately there are things that just hit you, and the fact that those things weren’t covered is unacceptable, completely unacceptable,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) told reporters during the Butler, Pennsylvania, visit. “I was on that roof, the roof that the director said was really, really dangerous for Secret Service and other personnel to be on. I’m 70 years old. There’s nothing unsafe about that.”

Gimenez, a former SWAT team member, also posted a video on X that he recorded on the now-infamous roof.

“One thing’s for clear, it’s for sure: It’s way too close,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said after visiting the shooter’s vantage point. “You know, being up on the rooftop and looking at where the president was relative to the roof is so close for a sniper.”

McCaul also questioned why a counter-sniper team wasn’t stationed on a nearby water tower, which he said had a clear line of sight to where officials say Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, repeatedly fired an AR-15-style rifle, wounding Trump, killing one rallygoer and injuring several others.

With questions still swirling about why warnings to local police about the suspect were slow to reach Secret Service personnel, Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said he learned Monday that local authorities were excluded from the Secret Service command posts for the July 13 rally, even though such officials had been granted that access at similar events in the past.

“Normally, the local law enforcement guys are allowed to sit in the Secret Service … control room,” Green said. “Today, the locals shared with us that they were not allowed to have anybody in there. So, that makes you want to dig a little further, right?”

Democratic members who joined in visiting the site of the Trump campaign rally in Butler expressed concern that campaigns had too much influence over the selection of event sites and appeared to be able to override security personnel despite complaints about logistical complexity.

“Who is in charge? Is it the Secret Service? Or is it the campaign?” asked Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.).

“I think there’s a lot of issues here that probably strongly suggested we never should have had the event here to start with,” added Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.). “That doesn’t excuse the failures of the Secret Service that day. I think we definitely want to make sure we investigate those and get to the bottom of what happened. … I looked at all of the roofs that were around and my count was around 12 or so. And I just thought, maybe this isn’t the best place to have done this.”

As Democrats at the House Oversight Committee hearing back in Washington joined Republicans in calling for Cheatle’s resignation, the Democratic members on the Monday visit to western Pennsylvania stopped short of doing that.

“We [are] not quite through with all of the gathering of information,” the top Democrat on the Homeland Security panel, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said when asked whether he’d join calls for Cheatle to step down or be fired. “But we are not reluctant once, we gather it to make decisions, but we want to make sure we have all the information.”