Secret Service investigating agent who intimated on Facebook she wouldn’t ‘take a bullet’ for Trump
02/01/2017 / By JD Heyes
The reactions to Donald J. Trump’s amazing win Nov. 8 over a thoroughly corrupt and compromised Hillary Clinton have varied from tears of joy, to tears of disappointment, to the outrageous suggestion by one Secret Service agent that she might not be willing to protect our new president.
And now, her agency is investigating.
As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, the U.S. Secret Service is investigating agent Kerry O’Grady, who wrote on Facebook that she would rather face “jail time” than “take a bullet” for Trump.
The USSS told the Washington Examiner last week that its Office of Professional Responsibility is looking into the matter.
O’Grady, who is in charge of the Secret Service’s Denver office, posted on Facebook in October that then-GOP nominee Trump was a “disaster” for the United States, and that she would rather go to prison than “take a bullet” for him if he were to be elected president. (RELATED: How is Trump doing at shrinking the size of government? Keep track of his progress at BigGovernment.news)
O’Grady was let go by the elite group, the Association of Former Agents of the United States Secret Service, also known as the Old Star, last week, because of her derogatory and demeaning post.
The post itself initially triggered an investigation to determine if O’Grady wrote the post – in which she also signaled her support for two-time presidential loser Hillary Clinton – while she was at work, which would be a gross violation of the Hatch Act for Secret Service agents. That law, which O’Grady mentioned by name in her post, prohibits agents (and most other federal employees) from using social media or any email account while at work to post partisan political views or advocate for (or demean) a candidate, political party or political office or group.
“As a public servant for nearly 23 years, I struggle not to violate the Hatch Act. So I keep quiet and skirt the median,” O’Grady wrote in October. “To do otherwise can be a criminal offense for those in my position. Despite the fact that I am expected to take a bullet for both sides.
“But this world has changed and I have changed,” she wrote further. “And I would take jail time over a bullet or an endorsement for what I believe to be [a] disaster to this country and the strong and amazing women and minorities who reside here. Hatch Act be damned. I am with Her,” she wrote, a nod to Clinton’s campaign slogan.
As part of her duties, O’Grady collaborated with Washington, D.C.-based Secret Service teams when it was necessary to organize presidential and candidate trips to the Denver region.
For some seven months, O’Grady used her Facebook page as a platform to post comments regarding the election, endorsing Clinton while railing against Trump. She was “friends” with other Secret Service agents, and reports said that at least one complaint was filed against her to the office that handles alleged agent misbehavior.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, O’Grady said she would not let her views about Trump affect the way she does her job.
“But I recognize that the agency is the most important thing to me. My government is the most important thing to me,” she said. “I serve at the pleasure of the president, but I still have the First Amendment right to say things.” (RELATED: Get more news and information about your constitutional rights at Liberty.news)
That will depend, of course, on where she made her posts, because, as they say in the military, “You’re here to defend democracy, not practice it.”
Two days after the interview was published, the Old Star board of directors voted unanimously to boot O’Grady, sending an email to all members confirming her expulsion. They came to the decision after O’Grady attempted to log onto the organization’s website and was denied, the Washington Examiner reported.
The Hill reported that the agency is moving swiftly against O’Grady, noting that she has been placed on paid leave for the time being while the investigation continues.
J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.
Sources:
Tagged Under: President Donald J. Trump, protection, Secret Service
