Trump Defends Female Secret Service Agent Who Protected Him

Donald Trump has hit back at commentators who criticized a female Secret Service agent because she was smaller than him. After the assassination attempt on the former President in Butler, Pennsylvania, images of the agent helping to prop him up and lead him from the stage prompted some to argue that she should not have been entrusted with protecting a clearly taller individual. 

Speaking in St. Cloud, Minnesota, the Republican candidate called the Secret Service agents who leaped to protect him on the Pennsylvania stage “so brave.” Mr. Trump added that he did not know how they weren’t hurt because “bullets were flying.” Referring to the female agent, he said, “She was shielding me, everything she could. And she got crushed. And she got criticized by the fake news because she wasn’t tall enough.” He added that the unnamed agent “wanted to take a bullet” to protect him. 

After the shooting, several conservatives took to social media to describe the female agents as “DEI hires” who did not know what they were doing. Elon Musk suggested that at the very least, people charged with protecting Mr. Trump should be as tall as he is, but the former President dismissed the criticisms. 

DEI hire accusations have also plagued Vice President Kamala Harris since she became the presumptive Democrat nominee, prompting senior Republicans to plea with lawmakers to discontinue the attacks and highlight Harris’s record in office. At a closed-door meeting in Washington, GOP lawmakers were warned that such references to the Vice President would likely backfire and portray the party as racist and sexist. 

Richard Hudson, the chairman of the House Republican campaign, told candidates to focus on Harris’s political history after Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett told reporters she was a “one hundred percent DEI hire.” Harriet Hageman of Wyoming used identical terms to describe the Vice President, prompting online accusations of racism and a lack of legitimate arguments. 

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy echoed Hudson’s sentiments and said concentrating on Harris’s race or gender was a “stupid” strategy.