In the wake of the Trump assassination attempt, some on the right have taken the Secret Service and its director, Kimberly Cheatle, to task for overseeing one of the worst security failures in recent history. Critics have also blamed DEI at the agency for the female agents on the former president’s detail at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally—one was too short to provide any meaningful coverage of the president, another couldn’t holster her weapon, and there was generally a frantic rushing about of several of them, appearing to have no idea what to do. The scene revived criticism of Cheatle's push for 30 percent female recruits by 2030.
The Secret Service on Thursday hit back.
“We stand united against any attempt to discredit our personnel and their invaluable contributions to our mission and are appalled by the disparaging and disgusting comments against any of our personnel," said Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service’s chief of communications.
“As an elite law enforcement agency, all of our agents and officers are highly trained and fully capable of performing our missions,” he added. “It is an insult to the women of our agency to imply that they are unqualified based on gender. Such baseless assertions undermine the professionalism, dedication and expertise of our workforce."
Trump, for his part, has done nothing but praise the agents for rushing to protect him that day, and Eric Trump went further during an interview Tuesday on MSNBC.
“The female that’s in the picture, she was with me for a very long time and she’s one of the greatest human beings you would ever meet. I would do anything for her. ... I do not put any of this on them. In fact, I laud them for their courageousness because they could’ve gotten killed, as well," he said.
There are certainly various roles within the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies where females are valuable, some note, such as "searching and processing female suspects, working in female prisons, and [facilitating] investigations, research, communications, patrols," etc. and not every female agent needs to serve as a bodyguard for a tall protectee. But the scene on July 13 coupled with Cheatle's response, which has been to claim the buck stops with her while also blaming sloped roofs and local law enforcement, means this debate will continue for quite some time.