Five Secret Service agents who were part of the 60-member detail surrounding former President Donald Trump have been suspended after a month-long probe into the assassination attempt against him that left him with a bullet wound through the ear. A report from RealClearPolitics has been keeping up with developments happening within the agency as it has come under heavy scrutiny ever since the incident on July 13.
Being part of the presidential detail is one of the highest honors within the agency, however, it also comes with a ton of stress. The shooting has brought a ton of attention to security failures and misconduct from some of the agents on the detail.
According to Trending Politics News, “Earlier this month a bipartisan committee of U.S. House members undertook a comprehensive review of personnel and procedures, and Friday’s development appears to come in response to pressure on Acting Director Robert Rowe to deliver consequences.”
The separate sources confirmed that multiple agents in the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh Field Office have been placed on leave, the outlet reported, underscoring the urgency felt by Rowe to assure lawmakers he is in control since the resignation of former director Kimberly Cheatle. Among federal employees, administrative leave is designated when an employee temporarily leaves their position and work duties – either because of a misconduct investigation or medical or mental health issues. Pay and benefits are usually continued, though that is at the discretion of senior officials. Another set of agents has taken over their responsibilities protecting President Trump even though they too were involved in organizing security for the deadly rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The different outcomes for each set of agents has led to a lot of turmoil within the agency and many of them are upset about who should really be held responsible for the shooting. Currently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is carrying out a probe of its own into the matter and has previously revealed that the USSS did not maintain a clear line of communication with local law enforcement officials they had chosen to secure the perimeter of the event. Rowe, during a congressional hearing that was held on July 30, stated that he didn’t understand why Cheatle or other agents in charge of organizing the event left the rooftop without a guard.
Sources told the outlet that lower-level agents are right to be angry that Rowe has so far been spared the brunt of culpability for the shooting, even though other reports indicated that he was directly involved in denying previous requests from Trump’s team to enhance his protection detail. At the time, counterintelligence officials had reported that Iran was plotting its own assassination attempt against the former president which spurred the requests. Internal emails showed one agent predicting that, without serious reforms at the Secret Service, another attack on Trump’s life before the November elections is “imminent.”
And if that’s not enough, there have been other lapses in security since the assassination attempt. One incident occurred at the national Bitcoin conference in July, where two individuals with credentials managed to get around the metal detectors, which forced Secret Service agents to keep former President Trump backstage at the event. The two attendees were eventually caught and then removed from the premises.
Another incident involved a female agent at Mar-a-Lago uploading a series of compromising photographs to her social media account while she was on duty. Another female agent abandoned her post in order to breastfeed her baby.
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