With all of Trump’s attempts at suggesting he may not accept the results of this election, now suggesting disruption if his Supreme Court suit is not taken up, I am now considering what is the role of the Secret Service — is it simply to defend the President? At what point does the transition of power get acknowledged for the agents of that service?
Interestingly enough I found an opinion piece in the Washington Post from 1998 that details how the oath of the Secret Service is to defend the Constitution. The Opinion is written by Frank Keating, a Republican and Former Governor of Oklahoma who gained national attention leading the state in the wake of the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
Of course, this opinion was given at a time when their target was William Jefferson Clinton. But it should stand for one Donald J Trump as well. (Bolding added by me to highlight key points)
In the 1980s I served as assistant secretary of the Treasury supervising the U.S. Secret Service. In 1995 I was inaugurated as governor of Oklahoma, where I am accompanied each day by state troopers who provide executive security. Having been both the protector and the protectee, I am convinced that any Secret Service agent who has knowledge of activities by a president that could relate to a violation of the law should be expected -- and, if necessary, required -- to testify in any legal proceedings against the president.
Agents of the Secret Service take the same oath I took as a rookie FBI agent in 1969: to uphold and enforce the laws of the United States. Perjury is a felony under federal criminal statutes. If a president gave sworn testimony that Secret Service agents knew to be false, those agents would be in violation of the oath they took, and the moral duty they subscribe to, if they declined to tell what they knew.
Our instructors at the FBI Academy hammered home one point: Federal law enforcement officers cannot pick and choose among the crimes they investigate, declaring this violation to be serious and that one somehow excusable. Their job is to find the truth, and if laws have been broken, to bring that truth to light in court.
The Secret Service is no different. That proud organization investigates a variety of federal crimes. The ultimate verdict of guilt or innocence is up to a jury or, in the case of a possible impeachment proceeding against the president, to Congress. When you carry an agent's badge you must adhere to the fundamental obligation of the law-enforcement profession in a free society, to apply the laws equally to all.
Another more pedestrian story on the Secret Service via Parade, details what the Secret Service does and doesn’t do.
Secret Service agents who serve on the PPD are completely apolitical when it comes to their work. Any political views held by an agent do not influence the level of protection they provide to the president. It is truly the office of the presidency that each Secret Service agent protects, and agents protect the person holding the office regardless of political party. The relationship between POTUS and agent is strictly one of professionalism.
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Secret Service agents report to the Director of the Secret Service and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security—not the president.
Business Insider ponders what the playbook would be if Trump would require actual removal from the White House on January 20th, 2021.
The Secret Service has never had to drag a president out of the White House. And there's no obvious government playbook on how to handle a commander in chief who refuses to budge when his replacement shows up at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
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President-elect Joe Biden's team has said the government would have no trouble removing "trespassers" from the White House if it comes down to that on Inauguration Day.
But how exactly would that go down?
Insider interviewed five former officials who worked for the US Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security about what the government would do if Trump didn't go voluntarily. They all agreed it was not among the long list of incidents they'd ever had to practice for and said it could put the agencies in an uncomfortable position.
Seriously?….not something they have ever prepared for? They better get prepared!
"We're not there to evict people; we're there to protect people," a former Secret Service official who was involved in previous presidential transitions said. "I don't see the Secret Service going in there and knocking on the door and saying, 'Time to leave, sir. Checkout is at 11 o'clock.' Are they going to physically pick him up and do it?"
That former official said the onus would be on people close to Trump and GOP members of Congress to convince the president that his term is up in the unlikely event "that he does barricade himself in there."
SMH — No I think this transition may be unlike any we have witnessed before. If its up to those around him, I hope they have a plan to take his phone or Twitter feed away and the use of hamberders (sic) to lure him out.
I think this transition may be unlike any we have witnessed before.