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A Secret Service agent is accused of sexually assaulting a staffer for Kamala Harris in a hotel room.
The alleged incident took place over the last week, as a team of agents and Harris staffers did advance planning and security work for a September 20 event in Wisconsin that was later canceled, reports RealClearPolitics, citing four unnamed sources in the Secret Service community.
The agent in question and the Harris staffers reportedly ate and drank together at a local restaurant, then went back to the female staffer’s room.
There, the agent allegedly forced himself on the woman and groped her, an incident allegedly witnessed by others. Those inside the room allegedly kicked the agent out into the hallway, where he was said to have been so drunk he passed out.
“The U.S. Secret Service Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating a misconduct allegation involving an employee,” a Secret Service spokesman said in a statement to the outlet. “The Secret Service holds its personnel to the highest standards. The employee has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.”
The Harris campaign office also confirmed it was aware of the allegation.
“We have zero tolerance for sexual misconduct,” it told The Guardian. “Senior OVP [Office of the Vice President] officials were alerted by the USSS about an incident involving an agent and informed that USSS initiated an investigation.”
Secret Service agents have been accused of misbehavior on trips in the past, including a 2012 scandal where agents in Colombia brought prostitutes back to a hotel, and a 2014 incident in which three agents protecting President Obama were sent home and suspended for excessive drinking during a trip to Amsterdam.
In recent months, the elite outfit has been under scrutiny for potential security lapses, following multiple close-call threats against the life of Donald Trump, including an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and an alleged plot in Florida.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan Senate report accused the Secret Service of major lapses in planning and communication over the recent incidents.
“[United States Secret Service] failures in planning, communications, security, and allocations of resources… were foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to the events resulting in the assassination attempt,” the report says.
