A Secret Service agent has triggered an investigation after he tried to smuggle his wife onto a support plane that was traveling to Scotland alongside President Donald Trump.
The wife of a Dallas-base agent was discovered at the distinguished visitor lounge at Joint Base Andrews, where Air Force One and other military aircraft take off.
She had accompanied him to Maryland and attended an official Secret Service country briefing at a hotel and then rode the bus with her Secret Service agent husband to JBA – where she was discovered.
‘The U.S. Secret Service is conducting a personnel investigation after an employee attempted to invite his spouse – a member of the United States Air Force – aboard a mission support flight,’ Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told the Herald.
‘The aircraft, operated by the U.S. Air Force, was being used by the Secret Service to transport personnel and equipment,’ he continued.
‘Prior to the overseas departure, the employee was advised by supervisors that such action was prohibited, and the spouse was subsequently prevented from taking the flight. No Secret Service protectees were aboard and there was no impact to our overseas protective operation,’ Guglielmi added.
Trump departed for Scotland on Friday and will return to Joint Base Andrews later Tuesday.
While the president flies on board Air Force One, a number of support planes always accompany the president – in order to get agents and staff on the ground and to get the presidential limousines and helicopters in place.
A Secret Service agent is under investigation after trying to bring his wife along with him on a support plane that was headed to Scotland as part of President Donald Trump’s trip this week
The Secret Service did not say what day the incident occurred.
It’s the latest embarrassment for the agency, which has been under heavy scrutiny for more than a year.
Just two days after his swearing-in, Trump named Sean Curran to be the new director of the Secret Service, after the agency came under fire for Trump nearly being assassinated on July 13, 2024 at a Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally.
Curran was Trump’s special agent in charge at the time.
Trump called Curran ‘a Great Patriot, who has protected my family over the past few years, and that is why I trust him to lead the Brave Men and Women of the United States Secret Service.’
‘He proved his fearless courage when he risked his own life to help save mine from an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania,’ Trump said when announcing his choice.
The Secret Service had endured further scrutiny after a would-be assassin was found in September at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club, just weeks before the presidential election.
In December a House task force investigating the assassination attempts found ‘significant failures in the planning, execution, and leadership of the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners.’
President Donald Trump waves from the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Friday before departing for Scotland. The wife of a Secret Service agent was discovered trying to take a support flight to Scotland as part of Trump’s trip
‘The Task Force found that the tragic and shocking events in Butler, Pennsylvania were preventable and should not have happened,’ the committee’s report said. ‘There was not, however, a singular moment or decision that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to nearly assassinate the former President.’
It continued: ‘The various failures in planning, execution, and leadership on and before July 13, 2024, and the preexisting conditions that undermined the effectiveness of the human and material assets deployed that day, coalesced to create an environment in which the former President – and everyone at the campaign event – were exposed to grave danger.’
Prior to the two assassination attempts, Secret Service agents had gotten in trouble for various antics.
In 2022, for example, two agents were sent home from President Joe Biden’s trip to Asia after one was accused of drunkenly assaulting a South Korean after getting in a fight over a taxi.
