The US homeland security chief on Saturday hit back at misogynistic attacks on female Secret Service agents who threw themselves into the firefight to protect Donald Trump from a would-be assassin.
“These claims are baseless and outrageous,” Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement after figures on the US political right accused the Secret Service of “conscious” hiring practices that nearly led to the former president’s assassination.
He praised the “highly skilled and trained” women working at every level of law enforcement across the country who “risk their lives on the front lines to protect others.”
“They are brave and selfless patriots who deserve our gratitude and respect,” he wrote.
He added, “The Department of Homeland Security will continue to recruit, retain, and advance women in our law enforcement ranks, with great pride, focus, and dedication to our mission. This will make our Department better and our country safer.”
Ever since a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania last week, killing one person, wounding two others and leaving the Republican bloodied and alive, the right has fiercely criticized the Secret Service for its hiring of women.
As gunfire rings out at the rally, several women are seen rushing to protect Trump as agents in black suits and sunglasses rush in, then escort him off the stage and into a waiting car and security vehicle.
But she and her boss, Kimberly Cheatle — the second female director of the federal agency tasked with protecting current, former and future presidents — are now under intense scrutiny over the near-catastrophic attack.
“There should be no women in the Secret Service. They’re supposed to be the best, and there aren’t any women who are the best at this job,” right-wing activist Matt Walsh wrote in a typical post on X.
Most of the attacks cited DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) hiring practices, which some Republicans have long criticized as discriminating against white people, particularly white men.
“The consequences of DEI. DEI got someone killed,” read one post on the popular Libs Off TikTok account.
The Secret Service has defended itself against such accusations in the past, and just weeks before the assassination attempt its spokesman told US media that agents were “expected to hold the highest professional standards … the agency has never lowered those standards.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
