Secret Service Agent Turns on Obama, Runs for Congress
Obama ‘enmeshed in so many scandals,” says agent turned politician.
ByABC News
Nov. 7, 2013 — — Dan Bongino, a 12-year veteran of the Secret Service once defended President Obama with his life, but now says “the fog of scandals in the Obama administration” and an inside look at the Obamacare debate led him to turn in his badge, turn on his former boss, and run for Congress as a Republican.
“I was behind the scenes for 12 years… I’ve been in the room during some of the most important conversations,” Bongino told ABCNews.com about the access he had to high-level discussions inside the White House.
Bongino’s former colleagues are unhappy with him parlaying his proximity to the president into a political career.
“He’s trying to draw attention to himself and he’s hijacking the Secret Service brand,” agents who had worked with Bongino told ABCNews.com. “That’s all he’s got going for him.”
Bongino, who protected presidents Obama and George W Bush, is running for the Republican nomination in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, a seat currently occupied by Democrat John Delaney. The election will be held next year.
Bongino, 39, is careful not to say too much about exactly what he saw and heard while protecting the president, but hints that “It’s worse than people know. They’d be shocked, scared, if they knew everything.”
“Being a Secret Service agent, I have an obligation not to disclose personal conversations and security details,” he told ABCNews.com. “But that doesn’t prevent me from speaking generally about foundational principles and the system of patronage and punishment I saw in the Obama administration.”
The defining moment, he says, when he decided to leave the service and enter politics, came after overhearing a series of secret negotiations inside the White House in President Obama’s first term.
“If there was one event that helped make up my mind, the most visceral was the Obamcare debate. The public doesn’t have any idea how many deals were cut on that. The Republican Party has a reputation for being the party of big business, but you wouldn’t think that if you saw the Obamacare debate. So many people were sold out, and so many sold out, it’s disgusting,” he said.
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Bongino was Maryland’s Republican candidate for Senate in 2012, but lost handedly to incumbent Sen. Ben Cardin. He’s planning on releasing a memoir about his time in the service later this month. Bongino said he was “very complimentary of the president and his family,” but that the Obama administration had become “enmeshed in so many scandals.”
Secret Service agents who served with Bongino but asked for anonymity confirmed his resume, but said the candidate “tends to exaggerate his importance on the presidential detail and exaggerate his proximity.”
“We don’t sit in on meetings at the White House. We don’t sit in on high-level meetings,” the agents said.
The agents said Bongino’s assignments were “typical” of agents in the president’s detail and that he was not a supervisor.
Since Bongino’s resignation agents are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Secret Service agents receive secret clearance, but unlike agents in the intelligence agencies, they were not previously legally bound not to disclose what they saw and heard while at work.
“Congressman Delaney is focused on serving his constituents and isn’t paying attention to the Republican primary,” a spokesman for the Democrat incumbent said in a statement.
Former Secret Service agent living in Bay Area talks security concerns from Trump rally shooting
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGO) — In a matter of moments, one of the darkest moments in American history unfolded on TV: Former President Donald Trump was rushed off stage by Secret Service, following a possible assassination attempt.
“Secret Service, they are the best in the world. And they are contacted, and they train elite forces all over the world,” said Cory Allen, a former Secret Service Agent who lives in the Bay Area. He served President Barack Obama after he left the White House.
The Secret Service says its agents fatally shot the suspect, who has been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, after he opened fire from a roof about 150 yards from the stage.
Allen says it is too early to point fingers at where the security lapses were. But he thinks there is a strong likelihood that there may have been a problem in the line of communication.
RELATED: Catch live updates about ongoing investigation on assassination attempt at Trump rally
“My instinct is there was potentially some kind of misunderstanding or somebody wasn’t sure of what to do with the information or who was to act on it,” Allen said.
Allen said the secret service costs money — taxpayer money. And assets are assigned based on threat risk of any given event. But as he explains, sometimes the issue may be much more basic.
“Having dealt with radio failures myself. Downpours in Miami when President Obama landed in Air Force One, and my radio goes down because a thunderstorm came through. And stuff like that happens,” Allen said.
“It is downright scary. It is tough to take. It is hard to think you can go somewhere and these things will happen,” said Oakland resident Benjie Ross.
RELATED: No changes made to RNC security plan after Trump assassination attempt, Secret Service says
He is troubled by Saturday’s attack on Trump. But he is critical of the harsh criticism directed at the Secret Service. He says Americans needs to be patient until there is a full investigation.
“I think even people that are highly trained, highly skilled professionals, there may have been an oversight. Who knows? We never really know. But I think, if anything, it’s going to be exacerbated in the media, then speculation, and then it kind of has a life of its own,” Ross said.
“We have the Secret Service for a reason. And they can correct errors,” said Professor Nolan Higdon, who teaches history and communications at Cal State East Bay.
He said there needs to be a thorough investigation into what went wrong, but cautions against politicizing the entire Secret Service.
“It tends to just end up engendering a lot of cynicism of these individuals and organizations, that despite their faults, are critical to our democracy,” Higdon said. “I think it’s irresponsible to blame the entire organization for whatever faults may have occurred.”
Former Secret Service agent reacts to assassination attempt
BY Samana Sheikh Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The assassination attempt over the weekend targeting former President Donald Trump has some people questioning the safety surrounding campaign events across the nation.
A former Senior Special Agent with the United States Secret Service provided insight on how security works and reacted to how the Secret Service took action at Saturday’s rally. He said safety is the first priority for all agents, and they are trained to keep the premises protected.
What You Need To Know
Greg Truhan is an Ohio-Native and served as a Secret Service Agent for nearly 20 years
Truhan believes the United States Secret Service, in his opinion, followed proper protocol and reacted the best way possible
Truhan says preparation is key for larger political events
Greg Truhan served as a United States Secret Service Agent for nearly 20 years. He unraveled the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, saying after the shots were fired, the agents at the rally did everything they were supposed to do to keep Trump safe. He said they reacted fast to get him out of what could have been a life-threatening situation.
“He was able to get up,” Truhan said. “He acknowledged the crowd, and then walked until you saw all the agents encircled him.”
Meanwhile, Truhan believes preparation is key to larger political events. He was not in attendance at the rally on Saturday, and he was not involved in the planning because of his title being a former Secret Service Agent. He told Spectrum News he wasn’t willing to speculate on the plan that agents put together for the rally in Pennsylvania due to not being involved. But, he said from his past experience, plans generally involve working local and state agencies.
“They would map out what are the high ground threats to the venue,” Truhan said. “And, then they’re then set up the protocol for how do we contain that?”
As for former President Trump, Truhan said he has an extremely high level of Secret Service Protection because he is a former President of the United States of America. While this incident remains under investigation, Truhan said the incident could be used as a learning tool to train agents in the future. This way, something like this could be avoided.
“No doubt this incident is going to be one that’s going to end up in the training academy for the agents because they’re going to review with the agents,” Truhan said.”This is what went wrong or this is what we can do better.”
