With President Trump and members of his inner circle contracting the coronavirus and the commander in chief being flown to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment, the Secret Service has once again been thrust into the spotlight.
Reports have come out in recent days about Secret Service agents, some of whom have already contracted the virus, questioning whether they are unnecessarily being put into harm’s way with decisions such as Trump’s drive-by outside Walter Reed in a hermetically sealed SUV to wave at supporters over the weekend. Footage of the drive-by showed an agent wearing a full medical gown, a face mask, and protective eye-gear.
White House spokesperson Judd Deere said, “Appropriate precautions were taken in the execution of this movement to protect the president and all those supporting it, including PPE,” according to the Associated Press. Secret Service spokeswoman Julia McMurray expressed a similar sentiment, saying the agency takes “every precaution to keep our protectees, employees and families, and the general public, safe and healthy.”
Still, there are those who say there is growing outrage in the Secret Service.
“It’s on everybody’s mind,” W. Ralph Basham, a former director of the Secret Service and the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the George W. Bush administration, told the New York Times. “The ones no longer there are happy they’re not there. These are tough decisions to have to make.”
Fox News contributor and former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino blasted criticism of the president for Walter Reed drive-by, saying the reports about the Secret Service’s anger at the president is “BULLSHIT” from one anonymous agent. “This ‘commentary’ is from one agent (we all pretty much know who it is) who serves as a quote factory for negativity when they need to advance a narrative,” he tweeted.
Bongino’s criticism was similar to that of Trump campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley. “How do they think he’s going to leave? Is someone gonna toss him the keys to a Buick and let him drive home by himself? They’re always around him because that’s their job,” he said.
Trump returned to the White House on Monday after his doctors said he was feeling better, though not “out of the woods” yet.
