The Secret Service has confirmed the suspension of two on-duty agents who brawled outside former President Barack Obama’s sprawling Washington, D.C., mansion.
Two female officers of the Uniformed Division got into an “altercation” at about 2.30 a.m. in the upscale Kalorama neighborhood on May 21, the Secret Service confirmed to NBC News.
Surveillance footage first obtained by Real Clear Politics and published Tuesday shows the security detail, dressed in bullet-resistant vests, violently shoving each other next to a white vehicle outside the Obama residence.
Multiple Secret Service sources told the website that the tussle broke out after one officer became irate with another agent who was several minutes late replacing her on shift.
“Can I get a supervisor… immediately before I whoop this girl’s a**,” one of the officers can be heard saying in audio published to X by reporter Susan Crabtree.
Without evidence, Crabtree speculated in a tweet that the incident was an example of DEI “still plaguing the USSS despite Trump’s directive to abolish it.”
A source said that a fight broke out after the officer arrived in a Dodge Durango, rather than a Ford Explorer, which was allegedly requested by the agent who was about to clock off.
One Secret Service source with knowledge of the altercation described the agent’s attitude as “dangerous.”
A spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that both officers had been suspended. The incident remains under investigation.
“The U.S. Secret Service is aware of an on-duty altercation that occurred between two Uniformed Division officers at approximately 2.30 a.m. on May 21,” they said. “The individuals involved were suspended from duty and this matter is the subject of an internal investigation.”
“The Secret Service has a very strict code of conduct for all employees and any behavior that violates that code is unacceptable,” the spokesperson added.
The federal law enforcement agency declined to comment further about the incident.
After leaving office, former presidents and their spouses receive lifelong Secret Service protection.
In 1994, Congress enacted a measure to limit protection for former presidents and their spouses to ten years after they left office, as a cost-saving measure. Obama restored the lifelong protection in 2013.
It marks the latest alleged incident involving on-duty Secret Service officers, following the removal of an agent from former Vice President Kamala Harris’s security detail in April last year.
The Independent has contacted the Secret Service and the Obamas’ office for more information.
