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The Secret Service will permanently remove a top special agent
from her position after an investigation into her Facebook
comments that she would rather not defend President Trump or
take "a bullet" for him, but some agents are concerned she will
simply be transferred to another government job.

About two weeks ago, the Secret Service placed the agent's prior
post — the special agent in charge of the Denver District, the
top job in that office — on a list of agency openings, according
to two Secret Service sources.

Kerry O'Grady, the agent in question, is on administrative leave
amid an internal Secret Service investigation into her Facebook
comments about Trump.

Current and former Secret Service agents and officers are
worried that top officials at the agency are working to shield
O'Grady from being fired.

They are worried that she will be transferred to another
division of the Homeland Security Department and allowed to
serve out her time until she can retire with a pension as the
agency has done with other officials in the public crosshairs.

In February 2015, Secret Service Deputy Director Alvin "A.T."
Smith was forced to resign when the agency was under pressure
from Congress after a string of security lapses. He was allowed
to transfer to another position in DHS, according to an email
that praised his 29 years of service to the agency sent to all
staff.

Agents and officers are also questioning whether the agency's
top brass tried to insulate O'Grady from any punishment. The
Secret Service knew about O'Grady's Facebook comments in October
when a whistleblower contacted the agency to notify it, sources
told the Washington Examiner. But the agency did not launch an
investigation until the Examiner reported on the controversial
Facebook comments.

Roughly a month before Election Day in early October, O'Grady
wrote that she would rather face "jail time" than take "a
bullet" for Trump because she considered him a "disaster" for
the country, especially as it relates to women and children. The
post was written on her personal Facebook page late on a Sunday
night.

In addition to other anti-Trump posts, on Inauguration Day, she
updated her profile picture to an artist's rendering of Princess
Leia with the words, "A woman's place is in the resistance."

"The resistance" has become a moniker for those opposing Trump's
presidency.

In an interview and subsequent statements, she repeatedly told
the Washington Examiner that the Facebook comments would not
impact her ability to do her job and protect Trump.

Secret Service employees are among those federal employees
subject to enhanced Hatch Act restrictions, including these two
rules:

May not post a comment to a blog or a social media site that
advocates for or against a partisan political party, candidate
for partisan political office, or partisan political group.

May not use any email account or social media to distribute,
send or forward content that advocates for or against a partisan
political party, candidate for partisan political office, or
partisan political group.

The Secret Service misconduct probe is focused on whether
O'Grady posted the comments during work hours, according to
several Secret Service sources.

Current and former agents and officers within the Secret Service
community have called on the agency to fire O'Grady and not try
to use a technical interpretation of the Hatch Act rules to
allow her to remain on the job or working for the government in
another capacity.

The premier association for former U.S. Secret Service agents,
known as Old Star, in late January expelled O'Grady by
rescinding her associate membership. The vote by its board
members was unanimous.

The spouses for agents O'Grady oversees in Denver have been
circulating an online petition addressed to former Director
Joseph Clancy, calling on the agency to "act now and terminate"
her.

Clancy left the agency in early March to retire before the
investigation was over.

The Secret Service is facing a new spate of embarrassing
incidents and security lapses that are drawing congressional
scrutiny.

In addition to O'Grady's Facebook posts, the House Oversight
Committee is investigating a March 10 fence-jumping incident in
which an intruder strolled around the White House south lawn for
20 minutes before approaching a Secret Service officer assigned
to the South Portico's back door, sources told the Washington
Examiner on Friday.

The intruder, identified as Jonathan Tran, walked up to the back
door and startled an officer, who didn't immediately think he
was an intruder, and instead thought he was some type of
contractor because he was wearing khaki pants.

Tran was carrying two cans of mace and at one point hid "behind
a White House pillar," according to an affidavit by a Secret
Service officer cited by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, in his
Friday letter to the Secret Service.

On Friday, reports of another serious security breach surfaced.
A laptop computer containing floor plans for Trump Tower,
information about the Hillary Clinton email investigation and
other national security information was stolen from a Secret
Service agent's vehicle in Brooklyn.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/secret-service-removes-agent- who-didnt-want-to-take-a-bullet-for-trump/article/2617833
 

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