A year removed from the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, questions remain unanswered as to the motives of the gunman, who was fatally shot by a Secret Service countersniper, and how such a horrific episode can be prevented in the future.

Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., who represents the Butler area and served on the House task force that investigated the shooting, spoke Monday at a Republican Study Committee press conference, at which he presented a resolution to condemn the two attempts on Trump’s life. The resolution also condemned the June 14 slayings of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and the attempted killing of another Minnesota lawmaker and his wife.

He spoke emotionally of the shooting death of Corey Comperatore, 50, a fireman who was attending Trump’s Butler rally with his wife and children.

“Let’s be clear: We must stand up together to oppose violence against our nation’s leaders all across each party,” he said.

To this day, slain gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks’ motivation remains unknown, after the House task force formed to investigate the assassination attempt released its final report in December. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., however, subpoenaed the FBI on Friday for information on the attempt on Trump’s life.

Asked by The Daily Signal if there is still a role for Congress to play in bringing to light the motivation of the Butler gunman, Kelly suggested that it would be difficult.

“I don’t know that we ever got the answers that we needed to get out of the federal agencies,” he said. “Some of you may remember the second [assassination] attempt that took place in Florida. Other than showing this man arrested, we’ve heard nothing more about him.”

Kelly suggested that the real solution is to address the moral decline in America, not necessarily any one government action.

 “I don’t know that there’s enough money in the world to change some of the way people think. I wish it were that way,” he told The Daily Signal. “We can pass resolution after resolution after resolution. I will let you be the judge of that when you talk among yourselves: How is your speech? And I think each American should ask that.”

I Was at Butler. The Feds Didn’t Give Us All the Answers, Says Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa.@MikeKellyPA, Chairman of the Congressional Task Force on the Attempted Assasination of Donald J. Trump, was asked by @GCaldwell_news whether there is a role for Congress to play in providing… pic.twitter.com/6YBPa57kS0

— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) July 15, 2025

He added that the task force had hit a brick wall when it came to accessing information on the Butler attack.

“The federal agencies early on really had kind of blocked us out of things. Local law enforcement in Butler was very forthcoming of what happened. So, we’re still waiting for some answers on some things that didn’t happen, but today is about the resolution.”

With the more recent shootings of the lawmakers in Minnesota, political violence is once again a major concern.

Many in both parties have called for increased security, especially after federal prosecutors asserted that the suspect in the Minnesota shootings had the names of U.S. congressmen written in notebooks—a possible hit list.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told The Daily Signal that he was urging Congress to act to protect congressmen from attacks.

“The House of Representatives needs to act urgently and decisively on the members’ safety issue before we break for the August district work period,” he said. 

“There are ongoing discussions between House Democrats and House Republicans at the highest level to try to improve the members’ safety and security issue, which should not be a partisan issue,” the New York Democrat added.

Leaving the Republican Study Committee press conference, Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., echoed Kelly’s argument that money alone cannot solve the issue of political violence.

“I think the point was well made in there by several congressmen that I’m not sure there’s enough money in the world to actually solve the problem, because the problem comes within individuals that are on the edge,” said the Baptist pastor, who was elected to Congress in 2024.

He argued that personal attacks had created an environment of political violence.

“As political leaders, we have a responsibility to talk about the issues. We have the responsibility to talk about the problem. We also have a responsibility to behave in a way that does not personally go after our political foes, but instead to try to focus on the issues.”

Harris does, however, speak of the Butler event as a positive moment in one sense, given Trump’s narrow escape.

“The Trump [that people] saw come out of Butler, Pennsylvania, was a Donald Trump with resolve, a Donald Trump that recognized—I believe—that his life had been spared by the hand of God,” said Harris. “When you look at all the things that came out of Butler, I think he moved with momentum after that point, and I don’t think it has slowed down one bit.”