The job of the Secret Service is to protect the president — physically, not politically. At least that’s what the January 6 Committee must think, since they subpoenaed the records of the missing texts from January 5 and 6 which were supposedly lost during a device replacement migration. Bottom line, the migration didn’t destroy the data, and the Committee wants it. Washington Post:
The text messages could provide insight into the actions of the agency and potentially those of former president Donald Trump on the day of the insurrection. Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson revealed during a hearing last month that Trump wanted to lead the mob from the Ellipse to the Capitol, despite knowing they were armed, and said that she was told by an agent that Trump physically assailed the Secret Service agent who informed him he could not go to the Capitol.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Thursday that the agency did not maliciously delete text messages following the request from DHS’s Office of Inspector General. The Washington Post previously reported that the Secret Service began a preplanned, agency wide replacement of staff telephones a month before the Office of Inspector General’s request, according to two people briefed on the document request.
That’s all well and good. If there’s no malice, then no harm, no foul. Let’s just see the texts, because the optics of this are not doing the Secret Service one bit of good. Atlantic:
We’ll see where this story leads, but the Secret Service has long since forfeited the benefit of the doubt. Agencies try to flout their watchdogs all the time, and their excuses are frequently flimsy. But deleting records like this is pretty brazen, and if you’re willing to take the Secret Service’s excuse at face value, I’ve got some
counterfeit $20 billsvery real legal tender I’d like to offer you at a very reasonable price.The disappearance of the texts fits with the agency’s recent pattern of behavior. As the Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig, the foremost chronicler of the contemporary Secret Service, has written, “The Secret Service’s claim of being politically independent … was tested by Trump’s tenure in the White House.” In one major example, a high-ranking Secret Service official, Tony Ornato, made a deeply unusual move from a civil-service job to being deputy White House chief of staff. New agents were assigned to Biden’s protective detail when he took office, reportedly because of concerns that the old agents were too politically close to Trump.
Mystery shrouds the agency’s work on January 6—especially with records missing. During his speech at the infamous rally on January 6, Trump told attendees to march on the Capitol, and reportedly wanted to go himself. Secret Service agents refused to allow him, citing security concerns. The former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson told the House committee investigating January 6 that Ornato recounted to her what happened next: Trump supposedly lunged at the steering wheel of a presidential SUV and tried to force an agent to drive him to the Capitol. Through a spokesperson, the Secret Service denied the story, and neither Ornato nor the agent have spoken about it publicly. But CNN reports that similar stories were circulating within the Secret Service for months, and a D.C. police officer reportedly corroborated the account as well.
Agents were involved in another strange episode a little later on January 6. As the Trump-incited mob breached the Capitol, Vice President Mike Pence was whisked to safety, and his security detail reportedly sought to get him into his armored limousine. But Pence refused, reportedly fearing that the agents would remove him from the building, which might have further disrupted the certification of Biden’s win.
The agency’s independence isn’t the only thing that looks shaky: so does the other pillar of its reputation, competence. This week, an employee staffing Biden’s trip to Israel was sent home after a reported physical altercation with a woman there. (This isn’t the first time an employee has been shipped back to the States for bad behavior.) In April, the FBI alleged that two men impersonating federal agents had fooled the Secret Service. And earlier this month, Biden announced that the agency’s chief was leaving to join the social-media company Snap (where at least he won’t have to worry about preserving his messages).
When you start cleaning house, you never know what you’ll find. It looks like the Secret Service might have some skeletons in the closet and Bennie Thompson wants to talk to them.
They really need to move the secret service back to the Treasury from DHS. It was a much more professional unit then. Many of the agents probably need to be deprogrammed as well. The new chief should come from outside the service, someone w/ LEO management experience and the sense to make no changes, that are not absolutely necessary, until he/she gets the true lay of the land.
They need to repeal the f’ing “patriot” act, because ir’s done more damage than it’s prevented.
What is LEO? I googled it and just go Leo the lion.
Law Enforcement Office or Officer.
I thought I read somewhere that Trump had about 40 guys hired into the secret service, who were formerly his bodyguards. If that’s true, they need some serious house cleaning.
This requires,A deep investigation. Fire every last frigging one of Fat Boy’s hires. Any agents sank seem to.be too fond of Trumpeter can be tired of transferred to a position that is no apolitical ASAP once SS is returned cut Treasury. And really, under Trump the Secret Service became the Gestapo. Lots of poly graphs for all of them. Lots of interviews with neighbors,and friends,and family. If something is even minority not kosher, get rid of them.