Democrats boycott Mills, Crane testimony at first Trump shooting task force hearing

Democrats on the House task force formed to investigate the assassination attempts against former President Trump boycotted the final portion of the panel’s first hearing Thursday, which featured testimony from two rabble-rousing Republicans who are leading their own “independent” investigation into the shooting.

It is one of the first partisan cracks in what has been an overwhelmingly bipartisan effort thus far.

The first official hearing for the task force, which was approved by the House in a rare unanimous vote in July, focused mainly on testimony from local Pennsylvania officials who were involved with assisting the Secret Service in security for the rally where the shooting occurred, and the communication breakdown that enabled the assassination attempt.

But a second panel at the hearing featured Reps. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) and Cory Mills (R-Fla.), who have launched their own “independent” investigation into the assassination attempt.

Democrats on the task force did not stick around to hear from Crane and Mills.

“Panel one was a very productive panel. It was focused on local law enforcement. That was the panel that we had worked with the majority to prepare for,” task force ranking member Jason Crow (D-Colo.) told reporters, adding that “everything that we’ve done has been consensus-based.” 

“We did not receive notice of the second panel until late yesterday,” Crow said. “It’s unclear to us what testimony will be provided by these witnesses that relates to today’s hearing.”

Crane and Mills, both of whom have experience as snipers, had hoped to sit on the task force and were disappointed that they were not selected despite their own visits to the Butler, Pa., rally site and other investigation. They and other rabble-rousing Republicans held an unofficial forum about the assassination attempt last month that coincided with the task force’s visit to the rally site.

Task force Chair Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) said that he invited Mills and Crane to testify because of their expertise, welcoming their assessment of the security perimeter for the rally. And he brushed off Democrats’ absence during their portion of the hearing, suggesting that some members may have had flights out of Washington.

“If you want to participate, you can participate. If you decide not to, you can make that decision too,” Kelly said of the members.

“It’s not going to shatter my feeling that it’s bipartisan,” Kelly added of the Democrats’ absence.

The biggest takeaway from the hearing, Kelly said, was the communication struggles detailed by local law enforcement. 

“There was a lack of preparation that day. There was not enough concern about the inability to communicate with each other,” Kelly said.

Kelly was in attendance at the Butler, Pa., rally when 20-year-old suspected shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks fired at Trump from a roof, clipping his ear, killing one rally attendee and seriously wounding two others.

Trump is set to return to the site for a rally on Oct. 5, which Kelly said he will also attend.

But in the second panel, Crane urged Trump to “avoid this site on October 5 and in the future.”

If there was any tension between Crane and Mills and the task force, their appearance appears to have smoothed things over.

Crane said that while the task force is doing “great work,” he challenged it “to think outside the box, challenge the mainstream narrative, and be willing to investigate every theory, regardless of how conspiratorial others might find them to be.”

Mills said that his independent investigation is “not exclusive of the efforts” of the task force, and pledged to provide “continued support” and any additional information to the task force.

Medical examiner discusses Crooks autopsy

Also appearing via video conference at the panel was Ariel Goldschmidt, Allegheny County’s chief medical examiner who assisted Butler County by performing the autopsy on Crooks.

Conspiracy theories about the shooting have swirled in part because the full autopsy report has not been publicly released.

Kelly said Goldschmidt testified “to answer questions about how Crooks died, and to hopefully put to rest some theories and doubts that often seem to follow high-profile violent events.”

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), a member of the panel, independently released a “preliminary investigative report” in August that raised concern about the fact that Crooks’s body was released for cremation 10 days after the shooting. Higgins had attempted to examine Crooks’s body, but said that because he was cremated, he “won’t know 100 percent if the coroner’s report and the autopsy report are accurate.”

Higgins at the hearing said Goldschmidt’s work was “professional” but pressed him about the possibility that Crooks was hit by more than one bullet.

“I accept you have only one observable bullet wound,” Higgins said, but he asked if his injuries could have been caused by more than one bullet into the same bullet hole.

Goldschmidt said there was no evidence of that.

Goldschmidt also testified his office’s involvement ended on July 22, when Crooks’s body was released to a funeral home “pursuant to the directives of the Butler County coroner.”

“It was a standard autopsy,” Goldschmidt later said at the hearing, adding that some extra toxicology testing and heavy metal screening found a “slightly elevated lead level.”

The task force is in possession of the full autopsy report. The Butler County coroner previously released a one-page summary of the autopsy, saying that the cause of Crooks’s death was a gunshot wound to the head.

New footage revealed of officer looking at roof

Kelly also showed never-before-seen footage from a dash cam on a Pennsylvania state police vehicle on July 13 that depicted Crooks in the distance on top of the AGR building from which he eventually fired at Trump.

“At this point, all law enforcement entities staffing the rally are aware that there is an individual on the roof of AGR, but they do not know he is armed. Behind the trees, you will see one officer attempting to lift another officer up onto the roof. And you will see that officer pull himself up, and look to the left,” Kelly said. “According to that officer’s interview with the task force, he sees Crooks with a long gun, and Crooks turns and points the weapon in his direction. The officer then falls to the ground, injuring his ankle, and radios that the man on the roof is armed at 11 minutes after 6:00.”

Crooks is far away and difficult to see at the start of the video, but after the driver of the vehicle moves closer to the building, the officer who was hoisted up to see onto the roof is much easier to see.

“We know that the first shot from Crooks was fired 32 seconds later,” Kelly said.