Former Arizona governor joins panel investigating attempted assassination of Donald Trump

PHOENIX – Former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano will serve on a panel investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Sunday.

Napolitano, who left the governor’s office in 2009 to become DHS secretary under then-President Barack Obama, was selected as part of a four-person bipartisan independent review panel.

Napolitano was Arizona’s last Democratic governor before Katie Hobbs took office in early 2023.

The other panel members are Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security advisor to President George W. Bush; Mark Filip, a former federal judge and deputy U.S. attorney general; and David Mitchell, former Maryland State Police superintendent and Delaware Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security secretary.

“All Americans share a concern about the safety of our public officials,” the members said in a joint statement. “We formed this bipartisan group to quickly identify improvements the U.S. Secret Service can implement to enhance their work. We must all work together to ensure events like July 13 do not happen again.”

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas could add more experts in the coming days, according to Sunday’s announcement.

Arizona congressman calls for Secret Service director’s resignation

During a congressional hearing on Monday, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was grilled by House members from both parties over the incident.

She called the attempt on Trump’s life the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades.

U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, called for Cheatle to resign after the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing.

“The American people need to know how this happened, but today Director Cheatle refused to answer even the most basic questions about the attack and continued to dodge any accountability. She must resign,” Gallego said in a statement.

How long will panel investigate Trump assassination attempt?

Napolitano and the other panel members are tasked with conducting a 45-day review of how the Secret Service and local authorities planned for and responded to the shooting at Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Rally attendee Corey Comperatore was killed during the assassination attempt, which left the Republican candidate with a bloody ear.

“We are committed to getting to the bottom of what happened on July 13, and I am grateful to the distinguished members of this independent review who will bring decades of expertise in law enforcement and security operations to this important investigation,” Mayorkas said in a press release.

Mayorkas said protecting current and former presidents is among the top priorities of his department, which includes the Secret Service.

“The men and women of the Secret Service make it the greatest protective service in the world, with one of the most solemn and difficult missions in government. This independent review will examine what happened and provide actionable recommendations to ensure they carry out their no-fail mission most effectively and to prevent something like this from ever happening again,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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