XPost: alt.politics.trump, talk.politics.guns, alt.law-enforcement   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: jethro@boom.com   
      
   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   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)