On Wednesday, the House Freedom Caucus said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) should not be allowed to serve on the bipartisan task force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump because he introduced a bill that could strip Trump of Secret Service protection under certain conditions.
The group of a few dozen conservative members also pushed for Thompson, who served as chairman of the now-defunct January 6 Committee, to be removed as the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee — which has oversight of the Secret Service.
“In April, Rep. Bennie Thompson launched an effort with other radical progressive Democrats to deny Secret Service protection to President Trump — legislation that he continues to defend even after the attempted assassination on July 13,” the caucus said in a statement.
“We therefore urge the removal of Rep. Thompson as Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security,” it added. Similarly, his actions should invalidate Rep. Thompson from serving on the task force to investigate the attempted assassination of President Trump.”
The group concluded, “Americans cannot trust that he will be an unbiased arbiter of the facts in the effort to get to the bottom of the greatest failure of the Secret Service in more than three decades.”
Atop the statement was a quote that read, “Rep. Bennie Thompson Must Not Be Allowed To Soil Another Investigation.”
Thompson has faced blowback for legislation he introduced in April that could strip a protectee of Secret Service protection if this person is convicted of a felony that is punishable with prison time of at least one year and sentenced.
Trump is not mentioned in the bill, but, in May a jury convicted Trump on dozens of felony counts in a New York hush-money case. Sentencing has been postponed until at least September as Trump seeks to get the conviction thrown out, but the former president could get prison time.
As noted by The Washington Times, Thompson insisted his bill “would not have affected the Secret Service’s presence” during the shooting at the Pennsylvania rally and will only apply to Trump if he gets sentenced to prison and is in the custody of another law enforcement agency.
Thompson repeated that claim during a hearing on Tuesday when he stressed that his bill “makes clear that when a protectee is sentenced and remanded to the custody of prison officials, the Secret Service is able to hand off the prisoner in an orderly fashion,” per the New York Post.
But Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), a member of the Freedom Caucus, and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) have pushed back on Thompson’s claim by pointing out that the text of the legislation does not mention the requirement about incarceration.
A list of members on the bipartisan task force to investigate the Trump rally shooting is expected to be released on Thursday.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told Punchbowl News reporter Melanie Zanona he did not think Thompson would be a “good choice” for the panel. He also said he spoke to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) about it and does not think it’s “gonna be an issue.”
The Hill’s Emily Brooks noted on X that Thompson “seemed slightly bewildered” by the House Freedom Caucus statement. “I don’t even want to be on it,” Thompson told her. “I’ve never expressed an interest.”
Thompson also reportedly said he would remain as ranking member while a spokesperson for Jeffries told the Freedom Caucus to “pipe down.”
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