(The Center Square) – A Colorado Democratic Congressman who was an impeachment manager during the 2021 trial of former President Donald Trump was selected for a bipartisan committee investigating the assassination attempt on Trump.
Jason Crow, representing the 6th District, was appointed the ranking minority member of the 13-person task force. Last year, Crow also said Trump shouldn’t be on the state’s presidential primary ballot due to violations of the 14th Amendment.
By a vote of 416-0, the House approved legislation last week to create the task force to investigate security failures at the Trump campaign rally on July 13 in Butler, Pa. The bill was sponsored by Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, whose district includes Butler and who was at the rally.
Republican members are Mark Green of Tennessee, David Joyce of Ohio, Laurel Lee and Michael Waltz of Florida, Clay Higgins of Louisiana and Pat Fallon of Texas.
Crow will lead Democratic members Lou Correa of California, Madeleine Dean and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Glenn Ivey of Maryland and Jared Moskowitz of Florida.
Most of the task force members have experience in law enforcement, as prosecutors or are former members of the armed forces. Crow is a former member of the National Guard and joined the Army after the U.S. was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. He served in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan as part of the Joint Special Operations Task Force.
“Political violence has no place in our democracy. Period,” Crow said in a statement announcing his appointment. “We must be united in the belief as Americans, not as Republicans or Democrats, that political disagreement is settled through rigorous discourse, not violence. I am committed to working with my colleagues to conduct a thorough bipartisan investigation to collect the facts and recommend corrective security measures.”
When the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Trump wasn’t eligible for the state’s presidential primary ballot, the case was appealed and heard by the Supreme Court. In a unanimous ruling , the Supreme Court found states don’t have the power to remove a former president from a presidential primary ballot under the 14th Amendment.
“What I'm saying is that there are instances where candidates try to rig the system, and they try to use violence and intimidation and rebellion or insurrection, in the case of the former President, to actually thwart the will of the voters,” Crow was quoted as saying by Colorado Public Radio last September. “So, what these provisions are doing is actually protecting the voting process, protecting the will of the voters, by prohibiting people who are trying to go around that system from doing so.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, will be ex officio members of the task force and won’t be voting members.
“We have the utmost confidence in Ranking Member Rep. Jason Crow and this bipartisan group of steady, qualified and capable members of Congress to move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability and help make certain such failures never happen again,” Johnson and Jeffries said in a joint statement.
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