The U.S. Secret Service, the agency tasked with guarding the lives of presidents, their families, and other high-profile figures, has not covered itself in glory this year.
The agency’s worst blunders are apparent to everyone after a 20-year-old was able to get onto a rooftop and shoot former President Trump (one attendee was killed) at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. After comically claiming that agents had not been stationed on that roof because it was “sloped” and therefore dangerous, SS director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in disgrace.
But recent SS behavior related to the Kamala Harris presidential campaign suggests the problems are not a one-off, and that agents seem to be operating outside the bounds of common courtesy and the law. According to a salon owner in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Secret Service agents put tape over surveillance cameras on her property and broke into her salon to use the bathroom while they were deployed to a Harris fundraising event.
Alicia Powers owns the Four One Three Salon, and said she voluntarily closed her shop for a day on July 27 since it was next door to the venue at which Harris was appearing.
Powers was understanding, noting that the agents had to do bomb sweeps and reconnoiter the area as a legitimate part of their job. But the security sweeps were so chaotic, she said, that she thought it was better to shut down for a day and come back when the event was over. Agents had already toured her business and the building in which it is located, she said, and she didn’t think they would be back after she locked up.
She says they did come back, and so do the video recordings. Agents can be seen approaching the camera with a roll of tape, then climbing on a stool to tape over the camera lens. But there’s more. Another camera they had not noticed recorded Secret Service agents and others walking through her salon, apparently having broken in.
The alarm system went off, and Powers went to her business to find that the lock was picked and that people had been going in and out of her salon’s bathroom for almost two hours.
A spokeswoman for the Secret Service said the agency has “communicated” with Powers, though she did not disclose the contents of these conversations. Later, a higher-up at the agency called Powers and admitted that what the agents had done was wrong and illegal, and offered to pay for the clean up. Powers agreed.
