The spouses of several Secret Service agents are circulating a petition calling for the immediate removal of the special agent who wrote on Facebook that she would rather face “jail time” than take “a bullet” for President Trump.
The spouses, who requested anonymity out of fear of retribution against their husbands and wives, are speaking out against the special agent in question, Kerry O’Grady, because they say they no longer have faith that she can lead the Denver district office where their spouses work.
The online petition, addressed to Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy, calls for the agency to “act now and terminate [Special Agent in Charge] Kerry O’Grady from the duties she boldly stated she will not perform.”
“This petition is to make known the sincere concerns that many special agents’ wives, loved ones and American citizens have with the written statements made by Kerry O’Grady regarding her unwillingness to conduct herself in a professional manner and to uphold the oath she willingly took 23 years ago,” the petition states.
“As family members of special agents that put their lives on the line every day for the ‘protective mission,’ we are outraged by her lack of respect for her colleagues and those that find themselves under her command,” it states. “She has lost all credibility with the agents, their families and the American people that pay her salary.”
The petition, which began circulating among family members of Secret Service agents and other agency employees Jan 26, had gathered 315 signatures as of Feb. 6.
A Secret Service spokeswoman declined to comment on the petition.
O’Grady is the special agent in charge of the Denver office — the district’s top official, who oversees coordination with Washington-based advance teams for all presidential trips to the area, including all upcoming or future trips by the president, vice president and Trump administration officials.
After the Washington Examiner reported in late January about O’Grady’s Facebook post condemning Trump and endorsing Hillary Clinton, the Secret Service launched an investigation into her social media activity and placed her on paid leave.
In a lengthy interview with the Washington Examiner and subsequent written statement, O’Grady repeatedly stressed that the Facebook post shouldn’t be taken literally and that she would in no way shirk her duties to protect the president because of her opposition to his presidency and her support for Clinton.
Agency investigators have since visited the Denver office and questioned agents and employees who work for O’Grady, according to two sources.
Critics in the Secret Service community are questioning whether the agency tried to overlook O’Grady’s posts or slow-walk its response.
Active-duty and retired agents and officers want to know why it took Secret Service managers three and a half months — and then only after the Washington Examiner’s report — to launch a formal probe and place O’Grady on administrative leave. A complaint about O’Grady’s anti-Trump Facebook posts was initially filed with the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General on Oct. 11.
The premier group for retired agents, the Former Agents U.S. Secret Service, or AFAUSS, moved swiftly to expel O’Grady from the ranks of associate members just one day after the news of the Facebook post broke.
The spouses who circulated the petition are deeply concerned that the agency appears to have dragged its heels in taking action against O’Grady until the story came out in the press.
“She has lost all credibility with both our local community and the local law enforcement that our spouses rely on to accomplish their protective mission,” the spouses said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “We no longer have faith that she can assist, guide, or facilitate our spouses in these endeavors.”
The day after the story broke, the Secret Service issued a statement to the press and its employees announcing the probe. In that statement, the agency said it took “action” back in October after learning of O’Grady’s Facebook posts but did not launch an investigation until after the news broke in the press, roughly three and a half months later.
Despite the calls for a swift firing over the Facebook post, the Secret Service is limited in how quickly it can move to punish an agent or officer. The agency must follow a careful legal process to impose any disciplinary action against O’Grady. Secret Service employees are federal workers with multiple layers of job protections.
For instance, if the Secret Service proposes a disciplinary action, O’Grady would have due process rights that could take weeks or months to exhaust.
Correction: The story originally stated that investigators visited the Phoenix office to question employees. No investigators traveled to that office to question employees.
