Burchett calls for Trump shooting hearings this week: 'To hell with the convention’
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) on Sunday called for congressional hearings into the assassination attempt of former President Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Burchett said Republicans should forgo attending the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wis., this week, and, instead, return to Washington to investigate the shooting.
“We need to get to Washington,” Burchett said in a Fox News interview on Sunday. “To hell with the convention.”
“We've got to ... find out what went on, make sure that it never happens again,” he added.
Burchett said he raised this prospect with House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) in a discussion Saturday.
The Hill has reached out to Comer’s office for a response.
The call for hearings comes after a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, wounding former President Trump in what officials are calling an assassination attempt.
In the hours following the incident, questions mounted about how the suspected gunman was able to take a shot at the former president, who had Secret Service protection.
Comer asked Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a public hearing later this month following the incident, while some Republicans have already called on Cheatle to be fired in the wake of the shooting.
“There was a complete breakdown of communication all the way down the line,” Burchett said in the Sunday interview, speculating based on reports he had seen elsewhere. “That starts at the top.”
“The head of the Secret Service needs to go,” he continued. “That is obvious, but I doubt that will happen.”