In the wake of a bizarre incident involving the vice president's Secret Service security detail, officials from the agency are poised to appear before Congress to offer context and explanation.
An official briefing from Secret Service officials to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee is set to take place on June 21, with the hope of providing insights into an attack perpetrated by an agent on Kamala Harris' protective detail on her supervisor, one which necessitated medical attention, as Fox News reports.
As NBC News reported, it was back in April that a Secret Service special agent was booted from Harris' detail due to what was deemed “distressing” behavior while on the job.
The agent was participating in Harris' departure from Joint Base Andrews when the alarming conduct reportedly unfolded.
According to the agency's chief of communications, Anthony Guglielmi, the individual began “displaying behavior their colleagues found distressing.”
The agent was then “removed from their assignment while medical personnel were summoned” to assist.
Guglielmi added at the time, “The U.S. Secret Service takes the safety and health of our employees very seriously. As this was a medical matter, we will not disclose any further details.”
Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-KY) had written to Kimberly Cheatle, director of the U.S. Secret Service, in the aftermath of the incident, and his communication offered some additional insight into what is alleged to have occurred on the day in question.
“It was recently reported that a Secret Service agent, tasked with protecting Vice President Kamala Harris, physically attacked her superior (and the commanding agent in charge) and other agents trying to subdue her while on duty at Joint Base Andrews and assigned to the Vice President's protective detail,” Comer began.
The chairman continued, “This incident raised concerns within the agency about the hiring and screening process for this agent: specifically, whether previous incidents in her work history were overlooked during the hiring process as years of staff shortages had led the agency to lower once stricter standards as part of a diversity, equity and inclusion effort.”
As the New York Post reported, the agent at issue, since revealed to be Michelle Herczeg, previously worked as a member of the Dallas Police Department and had once filed a complaint alleging that she “was targeted for being a female officer.”
A former colleague of Herczeg's from Texas told the Post that they would not have wanted the embattled agent “to supervise my dog, much less the vice president,” adding that someone in the hiring process “dropped the ball on this one.”
Speaking to Fox News Digital about the House panel's request for a briefing, a spokesperson for the agency confirmed the agency's willing appearance, stating, “In response to the letter received from Chairman James Comer, the U.S. Secret Service will comply with the House Oversight Committee's request for a briefing on the topics outlined in the publicly available letter dated May 30, 2024.”
Whether the proceedings will yield useful insights into the decisions and potential missteps that led to the unsettling incident from April, however, only time will tell.
