Three Secret Service officials have been placed on administrative leave amid an investigation for potential misconduct, according to reports.
It remains unclear what, exactly, the agents or officials are being investigated for, but the agency’s oversight unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility, kicked off the investigation this week.
RealClearPolitics National Correspondent Susan Crabtree said it remains unclear if the investigation is connected to leaks over President Donald Trump’s secret evacuation in Turkey, spurred by a potential threat from Iran. At the time, Trump was transported by a catering truck and swapped planes to a C-32A in Ankara, unbeknownst to reporters who remained on Air Force One.
“Well, it’s only up to Secret Service. I just follow what they’d like to do, so I go by Secret Service and the military,” Trump said of the swap. “They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane—equal safety—but they wanted me to do it, so I do it. I do what they say.”
“Three Secret Service officials/agents were walked out of their offices on Monday and made ‘do not admits’ as part of a criminal investigation into leaked classified information to the media, according to two sources familiar with the matter,” Crabtree said, noting that one source told RealClearPolitics that the FBI and CIA are also involved in the investigation.
This investigation comes roughly one month after a Secret Service agent on Vice President JD Vance’s security detail underwent investigation over allegations of leaking sensitive information.
Secret Service Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi told Fox News at the time, “A member of the Vice Presidential Protective Division is the subject of an administrative investigation, and potential criminal inquiry, involving allegations of compromising operational and information security.”
Guglielmi added that “any conduct that potentially threatens the safety of a protectee will not be tolerated.”
Secret Service has come under fire in recent years after three failed assassination attempts on President Trump, one of which resulted in the bullet nicking his ear during a campaign speech in Butler, Pennsylvania.
