Biden administration hits back at attacks on female intelligence agents | National

The head of the US Homeland Security on Saturday hit back against misogynistic attacks on female Secret Service agents who had put themselves in the line of fire to protect Donald Trump from a potential assassin.

“These allegations are baseless and offensive,” Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement after some members of the U.S. political right accused the Secret Service of “woke” hiring practices that nearly cost the former president his life.

He praised the “highly skilled and well-trained” women who work at all levels of law enforcement across the country and who “risk their lives on the front lines for the safety of others.”

“They are brave and selfless patriots who deserve our gratitude and respect,” he wrote.

The Department of Homeland Security will “continue to recruit, retain and promote women into our law enforcement agencies with great pride, focus and dedication to our mission. Our department will benefit and our country will be safer,” he continued.

In the week since a gunman opened fire during a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, killing one bystander, wounding two others and leaving the Republican bleeding but alive, right-wingers have unleashed a torrent of criticism of the Secret Service for having women in its ranks.

Among the agents dressed in black suits and sunglasses, several women can be seen shielding Trump with their bodies as shots are fired at the rally. They then force him off the stage, bundle him into a waiting car and take him to safety.

But she and her boss, Kimberly Cheatle – only the second woman ever to head the federal agency responsible for protecting current, former and future presidents – are now at the center of intense investigations into the near-catastrophic attack.

“There should be no women in the Secret Service. They should be the very best, but none of the very best in the job are women,” right-wing activist Matt Walsh wrote in a typical post on X.

Many of the attacks invoked DEI (diversity, equity and inclusivity) – hiring practices that some Republicans have long criticized as discriminatory against whites, especially white men.

“DEI results. DEI killed someone,” said a post on Libs’ popular TikTok account.

The Secret Service has defended itself against such allegations in the past. A spokesman told the US media just weeks before the attack that the agents “are held to the highest professional standards… at no time has the agency lowered those standards.”

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