Rep. Derrick Van Orden is demanding that the House establish an emergency panel to investigate the attempted assassination of Trump, which he blamed on rhetoric from the media and Democrats.
“I hope it (the shooting) changes the mood of the press,” Van Orden said in an interview with DailyMail.com at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in his home state of Milwaukee.
‘For over a decade, the press, in cahoots with the Democratic Party, used to be the left wing of the Democrats, now it’s become mainstream. For over a decade they’ve been saying Trump is a Nazi. He’s Hitler. He’s a fascist, he’s going to destroy democracy. He’s against all American values. President Biden said it’s time to put a target on President Trump.’
Van Orden continued: “Put yourself in the shoes of this 20-year-old who’s trying to kill him. Since he was 11 or 12, he’s been hearing all these vitriolic lies about the president.”
“I hope it (the shooting) changes the mood of the press,” Van Orden said in an interview with DailyMail.com at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in his home state of Milwaukee.
‘What else would make a 20-year-old kid stand on a roof knowing for sure that he would be killed if he shot the president, other than the fact that he had been radicalized by the leftist wing of the Democratic Party that became popular and that the media has projected onto him since he was 11?’
While the shooting prompted bipartisan condemnation and calls to tone down the rhetoric, some Republicans were quick to point out liberal hyperbole about Trump.
“Democrats and liberals in the media have called Trump a fascist. They’ve compared him to Hitler,” Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott posted on X.
“This is not an unfortunate incident,” Scott’s message continued. “This was an attempted murder by a madman inspired by the rhetoric of the radical left.”
The gunman, now deceased, was a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania, a registered Republican who had made a small donation to Biden’s campaign.
Van Orden said the Secret Service had “failed” that day in Butler, Pennsylvania, but stopped short of calling for anyone to be fired.
“When your only job is to make sure the former president doesn’t get shot, and the former president gets shot, there’s clearly a problem: You’ve failed in your primary mission.”
Van Orden said he implored House Speaker Mike Johnson “not to handle this the way Congress normally handles things.”
“There are actually four different committees that have jurisdiction. I don’t want a bunch of committees doing whatever they want.”
“We need to have a special commission that is made up of members of those committees and other members with expertise in the matter. We need to get this together very soon. And it needs to be completely open. Which means the American people need to see everything we’re doing, every person we’re talking to, every piece of information we have, so they understand what the hell is going on.”
Van Orden continued: “Put yourself in the shoes of this 20-year-old who is trying to kill him. Since he was 11 or 12, he has been hearing all these vitriolic lies about the president.”
Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, echoed calls for a select committee along the lines of those created after Sept. 11 to investigate the killing.
“As a former SEAL who has set up perimeters for American and European heads of state and as a former protégé, I can say without a doubt that the Select Committee to Investigate the Security Failures and Attempted Assassination of President Trump must move forward. As other agencies conduct their investigations, it is critical to the integrity of the investigation and the trust of the American people that a commission comprised of select members of the House, Senate, White House, and Supreme Court be empowered with the same — if not more — rights and access to information as the 9/11 Commission,” he wrote in X.
‘Many Americans rightly distrust the very agency that has been politically investigating and harassing Trump to investigate his near-deadly case.’
On Monday night, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer led his committee in demanding a list of all law enforcement personnel who were on the ground at the time of the shooting, all Secret Service audio and video recordings, all communications between agents and more.
Comer also revealed that the Secret Service denied a request for a closed-door meeting with lawmakers on Tuesday, although Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is expected to appear before the committee on Monday.
