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Secret Service Faces Another Scandal As Agent Leaves Post To Breastfeed Infant

[Anthony Quintano from Westminster, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons]

It has been a bad month for the Secret Service. As more comes out about the attempt on Donald Trump’s life, the Director of the United States Secret Service, Kim Cheatle, resigned from office after it was revealed that the agency had rejected Trump’s requests for more robust protection.

Focusing mostly on DEI rather than protecting American leaders, Cheadle made it a focus to recruit more women to the force, but now it looks like one of those women has done the unthinkable—she deserted her post while protecting Donald Trump.

In a stunning incident reported by Real Clear Politics’ Susan Crabtree, a female Secret Service agent abandoned her post to breastfeed her child just minutes before former President Donald Trump’s rally in North Carolina on Wednesday. The agent, who was tasked with overseeing security for the entire event, was discovered breastfeeding in a room designated for Secret Service official work, just five minutes before Trump’s motorcade arrived.

Crabtree writes that during a Donald Trump visit to North Carolina yesterday, a woman Secret Service special agent abandoned her post to breastfeed with no permission/warning to the event site agent, according to three sources in the Secret Service community.

Shortly before Trump’s motorcade arrival — I’m told five minutes beforehand — the site agent was getting ready for the arrival. (The site agent is the person in charge of the entire event’s security.)

The site agent went to do one final sweep of the walking route and found the agent breast-feeding her child in a room that is supposed to be set aside for important Secret Service official work, i.e. a potential emergency related to the president.

A working agent on duty cannot bring a child to a protective assignment. The woman was out of the Atlanta Field Office.

The woman agent was in the room with two other family members.

The trio had apparently bypassed the Uniformed Division checkpoint, with assistance from a staff member who was not authorized to be there. The staff member escorted the agent and her family to the room, raising concerns about the security protocols at the event.

Despite the potential implications of such an incident, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi assured that the event’s security was not compromised. “All employees of the U.S. Secret Service are held to the highest standards,” Guglielmi stated. “While there was no impact to the North Carolina event, the specifics of this incident are being examined. Given this is a personnel matter, we are not in a position to comment further.”

Guglielmi has previously been called out for lying about the Secret Service turning down Trump’s request for backup.

News of the incident in North Carolina comes as the Secret Service has finally approved a new security plan that will allow former President Donald Trump to resume holding outdoor rallies, according to The Washington Post.

“The effort comes after the Secret Service urged the Trump campaign to temporarily pause having Trump appear at outdoor rallies, after a gunman fired multiple shots at the Republican nominee at an outdoor fairgrounds in Butler, Pa., on July 13.

Trump was wounded and has not appeared at an outdoor campaign event since the attempted assassination, which is considered the Secret Service’s most serious security failure since John Hinckley was able to shoot and nearly kill President Ronald Reagan outside a Washington hotel four decades ago.

The plan to erect bulletproof glass to surround Trump at outdoor events is a major enhancement in the Secret Service’s standard security planning for candidate campaign events, according to the Secret Service official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security measures. Such sheets of ballistic glass are normally only provided for presidents and for vice presidents when deemed necessary at outdoor appearances, an extra layer of security organized and coordinated by the Department of Defense to shield the nation’s top two leaders. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the Democratic nominee challenging Trump, would be given such protection if warranted, officials said.

The Secret Service will also be adding other technical security assets that have not normally been provided for presidential candidates, a Secret Service official confirmed, but they declined to describe those tools. These technical security measures could include the use of drones.”

Trump has said he intends to go back to Butler County, Pennsylvania, to hold another rally there soon.

[Read More: Kamala Goes Full Hugo Chavez]

 

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