Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson knows that the Just US Department can’t be trusted to investigate the attempt on Donald Trump’s life. He’s already working to set up a congressional task force “to consolidate investigations into the security failures.” He’s also calling “for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign.”
House doing own probe
On Wednesday, July 17, House Speaker Mike Johnson, representing the Republicans of Louisiana, demanded the head of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on a plate. Figuratively speaking, of course. We don’t want anybody taking that literally.
He wants her to step down in disgrace but she claims she’s not going anywhere. Then again, so does Joe Biden. We’ll see what happens with both of them.
The things that the public is learning about Saturday’s attempted assassination are shocking. A 20-year-old amateur gunman was able to obtain the perfect sniper position and fire six rounds, striking the once and future president in the ear. That should never have happened. Now that we’re learning that the feds followed him around for a full hour, We the People are furious.
Today, I am announcing a special task force within the House of Representatives to investigate the assassination attempt on President Trump.
We need answers for these shocking security failures. pic.twitter.com/nL4UaMuuf2
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 17, 2024
It’s obvious that the Secret Service allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to have his chance. They didn’t prevent Trump from taking the stage, either. Even though they had plenty of warning. Conservatives in the House can’t trust Alejandro Mayorkas and his Department of Homeland Security, who manage the Secret Service, any more than they trust Merrick Garland’s DOJ to watch over Christopher Wray and the FBI.
“I think it’s inexcusable,” Johnson declared. “there were no law enforcement officers stationed on the roof” used as a perch by the assassin. Cheatle cited the “sloped roof” which “created safety concerns.”
That doesn’t hold up for a second with House investigators, because the snipers who shot Crooks were positioned on a similarly pitched roof. “It doesn’t wash, and I think she’s shown what her priorities are,” the speaker observed.

At least six committees
Already, “at least six committees across both chambers of Congress have been looking into the assassination attempt.” Each and every one of the probes are rubbing Mayorkas the wrong way. The SS and Mayorkas can use all those separate investigations as reason not to cooperate. Johnson is putting a stop to that nonsense from the beginning.
“We’re going to move quickly. I’ll be setting up, on Monday, a task force, a special task force within the House. The reason we’re going to do it that way, is because that is a more of a precision strike.”
This way, there won’t be so many “procedural hurdles.” In fact, it expedites things because they have “subpoena authority.” And they know how to use it. They’ve managed to hold the feet of several officials to the fire by threatening contempt of Congress.
Here comes the blatant cover-up: Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed this morning that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is actively trying to block the public testimony of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
The Department of Homeland Security inspector general has also said it… pic.twitter.com/jRZNNgxp13
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) July 17, 2024
Merrick Garland taught them they have “inherent” contempt powers. Half the House wants to have Garland put in chains under arrest but the latest idea is a fine. They want to hit him with $10,000 per day until he coughs up the raw transcripts from Robert Hur’s interview of Joe Biden. Money that comes from his personal bank account, not the department’s. They can do that and might.
After talking to both Mayorkas and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Johnson feels like a mushroom. They’re trying to keep the House in the dark and feed them bullcrap. “There’s real questions, let’s just put it that way. The answers have not been forthcoming.”
He gives them the benefit of the doubt, for now. “I think they’re gathering data. We’re going to do it as well. We have to have accountability for this. It was inexcusable. Obviously, there were security lapses. You don’t have to be a special-ops expert to understand that.“