House panel investigating Trump assassination attempts is holding its first hearing

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan congressional task force investigating the assassination attempts against Donald Trump is set to hold its first hearing Thursday as lawmakers rush to ensure candidate safety just weeks before the U.S. presidential election.

The panel — comprised of seven Republicans and six Democrats — has spent the last two months trying to decipher the security failures that allowed a gunman to scale a roof and open fire at the former president during a July 13 campaign rally in Pennsylvania, killing a spectator. Now they are also investigating this month’s Secret Service arrest of a man with a rifle on Trump’s Florida golf course who also allegedly sought to assassinate the GOP presidential nominee.

The suspect in the second assassination attempt, Ryan Wesley Routh, was allegedly aiming a rifle through the shrubbery surrounding Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course when he was detected by a Secret Service agent. The agent opened fire and Routh fled before being apprehended by local authorities.

Rep. Jason Crow, the top Democrat on the task force, said the group is now shifting to “a longer term, holistic look at both Butler and Florida.”

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