On March 18, Washington Post writes: The White House said yesterday that it will discipline two government employees who masqueraded as journalists this month while scouting locations for a presidential visit to the Gulf Coast.
They identified themselves as Fox News journalists when they were checking out their neighborhood before Bush’s visit and later claimed they were with the Secret Service.
“They didn’t show any cards or anything,” [Elaine] Akins said. “They just came up and said they were with the media, and then they said they were with Fox. They just talked to us and asked us about rebuilding our house. Then, after everything was over with, they approached us and they were laughing, and they said: ‘You know, we really weren’t with Fox. We’re government, Secret Service men.”
The White House confirms it:
“This incident has been brought to our attention, and this is clearly not appropriate, nor is it part of our standard operating procedures,” [Ken Lisaius, White House spokesman] said. “The individuals involved will be verbally reprimanded.”
However, the Secret Service have never seen the two “Secret Service men” and are not part of the Secret Service either.
“I checked with our people down there in Mississippi who were involved in the advance, and it was not Secret Service people who identified themselves as members of the media,” [Tom Mazur, a spokesman for the Secret Service] said. “We wouldn’t do that.”
When the Post called the White House again, Lisaus would not tell them anything about the two men were, just that the White House is aware of the matter. So it looks like the White House likes to sidestep the Secret Service and send their own personnel who like to run around impersonating journalist and the Secret Service.
I find it interesting, the Post made no mention that impersonating a federal law enforcement officer is a violation of federal law (18 U.S.C. §912).
Whoever falsely assumes or pretends to be an officer or employee acting under the authority of the United States or any department, agency or officer thereof, and acts as such, or in such pretended character demands or obtains any money, paper, document, or thing of value, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
But this is not the first time that the White House has tried to cover-up someone impersonating an agent pf the Secret Service. Last year, in Denver, at a Social Security town hall meeting, three individuals, Alex Young, Karen Bauer, and Leslie Weise (“Denver 3“), were forcibly removed by someone impersonating a Secret Service agent. Although the Secret Service launched a criminal investigation into the matter, the White House refused to provide the name of the person who was posing as a Secret Service agent, however, justified the removal of the “Denver 3.”
Amidst White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s stonewalling, contradictory explanations, and refusal to reveal the man’s identity, McClellan announced last week that suspicion is all the White House needs to forcibly remove Americans from an official Presidential event and deny them their constitutional rights.
The Associated Press later reported on the results of the investigation:
An agent from Washington, D.C., contacted [Dan] Recht and asked if his clients Alex Young, Karen Bauer, and Leslie Weise could be interviewed this week as part of the second investigation into the incident, Recht said. The Secret Service has said the first investigation determined the man was not one of its agents but a staff member with the host committee.
More frightening, it was a Republican staffer who posed as the Secret Service and it seems they do it very often.
[Lon] Garner, [the Secret Service agent in charge in Denver,] said his investigation found that the man was a Republican Party staffer and “not a Secret Service agent.” He referred further questions to his Washington office.
The group said Garner also told them there have been numerous cases of Republican staffers holding themselves out as Secret Service agents at presidential appearances.
I guess the White House “Volunteer” program are now the “advance sweeper teams” making sure King George’s loyal subjects haven’t turned on him.
[Elaine] Akins said the men were friendly and looked around the home site for about 20 minutes. The following Wednesday, Bush flew to the small, working-class town. He appeared with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) outside the Akins home to call attention to federal efforts to aid in reconstruction.
“Our job and our purpose is to help people like the Akins rebuild,” Bush said.
It was during McCarthism when people became targets of Senator McCarthy’s aggressive “witch-hunts,” but now, it’s any dissenter of King George.
