Trump Administration Recklessly Exposing Security Detail to Coronavirus, Secret Service Agents Claim

Trump Administration Recklessly Exposing Security Detail to Coronavirus, Secret Service Agents Claim

Some members of President Trump’s Secret Service team, as well as those having to work the president’s non-socially distanced campaign rallies, are voicing their frustrations online after a wave of coronavirus infections has spread through the White House, according to The Washington Post.

From the story:

Secret Service agents expressed their anger and frustration to colleagues and friends Friday, saying that the president’s actions have repeatedly put them at risk. “He’s never cared about us,” one agent told a confidant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the internal reaction…

Agents who work in field offices around the country complained that since late August, they are no longer being tested when they return home from working at a rally for the president.

“This administration doesn’t care about the Secret Service,” one current agent relayed in an internal discussion group. “It’s so obvious.”

Agents told the Post that at times they felt testing was inadequate, there was often a short supply of N95 masks, and some even began doing away with masks in order to not feel pressure to blend in with others on detail.

President Trump held a rally Wednesday in Minnesota, where adviser Hope Hicks began feeling ill and was later announced to have tested positive for the coronavirus. Following Trump’s positive test and ongoing stay at Walter Reed Medical Center, the campaign has had to postpone several planned in-person rallies.

William Vaillancourt

William Vaillancourt is a writer and editor from New Hampshire whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Progressive, Slate and Areo Magazine, among other places. He holds a BA in Political Science and History from Boston University.

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