Massive Scandal Surrounding VP Kamala Harris Surfaces
Secret Service officials are set to give a bipartisan briefing to Congress to address training and recruitment issues following an incident where an agent from Vice President Harris’ protective detail attacked their supervisor.
According to The New York Post, citing unnamed sources familiar with the April incident at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s County, Md., the agent allegedly "brawled" with several others before being removed from the vice president's detail. The altercation reportedly occurred around 9 a.m. local time, just before Harris arrived.
The agent was immediately “removed from their assignment,” the Secret Service informed The Post.
“A US Secret Service special agent supporting the Vice President’s departure from Joint Base Andrews began displaying behavior their colleagues found distressing,” stated Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the U.S. Secret Service, to the outlet. “The US Secret Service takes the safety and health of our employees very seriously.”
Subsequent reports indicated that the agent had punched her supervisor. Following the altercation, there were claims that the agent had been hired under the federal agency’s "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI) policies.
The briefing is scheduled for June 21, following a letter from House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., to U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
“It was recently reported that a Secret Service agent, tasked with protecting Vice President Kamala Harris, physically attacked her superior (and the commanding agent in charge) and other agents trying to subdue her while on duty at Joint Base Andrews and assigned to the Vice President’s protective detail,” Comer wrote to Cheatle.
“In response to the letter received from Chairman James Comer, the U.S. Secret Service will comply with the House Oversight Committee’s request for a briefing on the topics outlined in the publicly available letter dated May 30, 2024,” a Secret Service spokesperson told Fox News.
A Bloomberg reporter mentioned that Secret Service personnel have circulated a petition within the agency calling for a congressional investigation into multiple incidents. Fox reported that agents have raised concerns about inadequate training and alleged double standards in disciplinary actions.
“This incident raised concerns within the agency about the hiring and screening process for this agent: specifically, whether previous incidents in her work history were overlooked during the hiring process as years of staff shortages had led the agency to lower once stricter standards as part of a diversity, equity, and inclusion effort,” Comer’s letter to Cheatle continues.
Comer asked Cheatle to provide a briefing for the committee staff by June 13, to be followed by the Secret Service briefing a few days later.
The Washington Examiner first reported the incident.
RealClearPolitics’ Susan Crabtree posted on X:
“Sources within the Secret Service community tell me the agent assigned to VP Kamala Harris was armed during the fight – that the gun was secured in the agent’s holster until other agents physically restrained the agent and took the gun from the agent’s possession. I’m also told there are DEI concerns among the USSS community about the hiring of this agent. Other agents and officers within the USSS are asking questions about the agent’s hiring process, whether the USSS did enough to look into the agent’s background and monitor the agent’s mental well-being because there have been widespread concerns about other strange behavior before this incident. For now, I am also withholding the agent’s name.”
She added: “Other details: Sources say the agent in question was acting erratically upon showing up for a traveling shift at Joint Base Andrews. The agent ended up tackling the Senior Agent in Charge of the VP detail, got on top of him and started punching him. At this point, I’m told, the agent who was attacking the SAIC did indeed have a gun, but it was in the holster. Other agents are expressing relief that the agent did not shoot the SAIC.”
Crabtree later noted that the agent was a woman. “It is unclear whether she is on administrative leave, the agency’s common practice while investigating behavioral incidents,” she stated in another X post.