A Secret Service agent accused of leaking details about Vice President J.D. Vance s movements has been placed on administrative leave, and a possible criminal investigation launched, according to CNN and the New York Times. Meanwhile, a new report from MSN anonymously leaks details growing frustration within the detail assigned to protect the Vice President and his family.
00:04:07.420CNN reporting the controversy comes as the Secret Service continues grappling with staffing
00:04:11.840shortages, leaving agents to work longer hours in an already demanding and high-stakes assignment.
00:04:17.480The publication of information about the vice president's planned movements reportedly infuriating officials at the Secret Service, the FBI, and the White House.
00:04:25.640A former Secret Service agent telling CNN that publicizing the movements of two protectees, including a minor, exposed what the agent described as a serious vulnerability inside the agency.
00:04:36.180The vice president's office responding to the original MSNOW report in a statement, quote,
00:04:40.220The Vances are grateful to the men and women of the U.S. Secret Service who serve our country
00:04:44.840with distinction. While protecting a vice president with a large policy portfolio and
00:04:49.100a young and growing family presents a unique challenge, agents of the Secret Service do
00:04:53.200so with excellence every day. We spoke with RealClearPolitics national correspondent Susan
00:04:58.000Crabtree, who has reported extensively on the Secret Service and who says the strain inside
00:05:02.500Vice President Vance's protective detail has been building for more than a year.
00:05:06.860I've been reporting on the understaffing of J.D. Vance's Secret Service detail for more than a year. I've heard multiple, multiple complaints, and I've been reporting on this in various stories and tweets.
00:05:22.620But the Secret Service, the presidential detail is almost twice as large, from what I understand, as the vice president's detail.
00:05:33.060But, of course, J.D. Vance is doing more than half a minute.
00:05:37.640He's traveling at least twice as much, if not likely more.
00:05:42.800He's very integral to this administration, far more than VP Harris was.
00:05:51.620So that is stressing, providing a lot of stress for the detail.
00:05:57.540And they haven't done anything at the leadership level that I know of to address these concerns that have been simmering on the detail for months and months.
00:06:08.940Crabtree expanded on the differences between Vice President Vance and Vice President Harris in the last administration.
00:06:14.140Her travel wasn't as near as extensive and her responsibilities, you didn't have her leading negotiations with foreign countries that were at war with. I mean, there was just no comparison whatsoever.
00:06:29.100So, I mean, obviously during her campaign schedule, there was more activity level, but the size of the detail, as I understand it, has not increased since J.D. Vance has taken the job and has obviously a much more vigorous schedule and has little kids that he wants to be involved with their lives, even though he is the vice president of the United States.
00:06:54.020Crabtree places much of the responsibility on agency leadership.
00:06:57.080I think it's an issue of not standing up and speaking truth to power. Obviously, Sean Curran is very close to President Trump, and that's why Trump selected him and trusts him.
00:07:11.200But in every blue ribbon report that's been issued over the last decade on the Secret Service problems, they say, do not choose your detail leader. Sometimes you don't have the experience level if you're just a campaign detail leader and you haven't risen to the ranks of outside organization, like reforming a police department.
00:07:34.260And he didn't have the leadership jobs before becoming the director that really most directors do.
00:07:43.080While Crabtree believes the staffing complaints deserve serious scrutiny, she argues parts of the original MSNOW report were aimed more at embarrassing Mr. Vance than addressing the underlying problem.
00:07:52.640Some parts of it are seemingly partisan gratuitousness on the part of MSNOW that leaked it.
00:07:58.640The fact that there was a request that J.D. Vance was accompanying his son to a golf course on Joint Base Andrews, that to me seems like totally, and that was played up as some kind of elitism, privilege, when that is the easiest way to transport the vice president and the president is by Marine One and Marine Two.
00:08:26.280The motorcades involve far more agents. But what the issue that I think should have been had, it should have been at a leadership level that that Sean Curran or Matt Quinn, the deputy at the Secret Service, should have sat down with the scheduler for or the vice president himself and said, you know, there are some issues with how quickly you're doing some of the changes in these schedules.
00:08:51.460Crabtree also accuses the outlet of applying a double standard to the demands placed on agents protecting members of the Biden family.
00:08:57.540We didn't hear much about criticism of Hunter Biden's taking care of Hunter Biden's children and from MSNOW or from this particular reporter during the Biden tenure.
00:09:09.840And it's interesting to note that it's even part of a lawsuit that a Secret Service agent has filed because he was penalized for telling Maisie Biden, who was Hunter Biden's daughter, that, hey, your friends, this particular agent was carting around Maisie Biden and her friends to, she was over 21 at the time.
00:09:34.900They were drinking. There was a lot of, you know, going to nightclubs. A friend said, hey, I'd like you to drop me off at a place before they dropped Maisie Biden at her final destination. And the Secret Service agent said, I'm not an Uber driver. And Maisie Biden then turned him in to his supervisors for saying that. And he believes he was penalized.
00:10:00.180I haven't heard any other reporters on the left, even though I had, I reported that, was it last year or the year before, that story, pick that story up in the same context, that it's, you know, that the Secret Service is being burdened by any of the duties that they have to be covering for the, providing security for the children.
00:10:24.360A pair of new polls offering very different snapshots of the still-developing
00:10:30.1402028 Democrat presidential field. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York now leading
00:10:36.180the prospective field in New Hampshire, climbing to 22 percent in the latest Granite State poll
00:10:40.800from the University of New Hampshire. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
00:10:44.840following closely at 21 percent, with Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona at nine, California Governor
00:10:50.340Gavin Newsom down to just 8 percent, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont at 6, and former Vice
00:10:55.400President Kamala Harris all the way down at 5 percent. AOC's rise marking a significant reshuffling
00:11:00.860since October when Buttigieg led with 19 percent, followed by Newsom at 15 and Ocasio-Cortez at 14
00:11:07.380percent. The latest results show Ocasio-Cortez dominating among voters who identify as socialists
00:11:13.080and leading among progressives, while Buttigieg draws more evenly from progressives, liberals,
00:11:17.680and moderates. A reporter from The Independent asking AOC Wednesday for her reaction to the
00:11:23.200latest polling. Of course, I think I'm very deeply humbled and grateful to, you know,
00:11:32.820folks who participate and convey that confidence. And, you know, it's, I'm honestly, I think my
00:11:42.340main focus is really genuinely just the midterms right now. We have to make sure that we win this
00:11:46.380majority. A separate national survey released yesterday finding a different candidate at the
00:11:50.980front of the pack. The latest Emerson College poll placing Buttigieg in first with 19 percent,
00:11:56.080followed by Newsom at 17 percent. Senator John Ossoff of Georgia and AOC tied at 13 percent,
00:12:02.080while Vice President Harris receives 8 percent. Buttigieg asked earlier this month in Iowa,
00:12:07.400where he was campaigning in support of Democrat congressional candidate Sarah Trone Garriott,
00:12:11.820whether he would rule out running in 2028. Buttigieg replying, quote, nope. KCCI later
00:12:18.220pressing the former transportation secretary on whether he is actively considering a campaign.
00:12:22.780Are you considering a run for president in 2028?
00:12:25.720Well, I just think any decision about that has to come after we deal with what's on our plate
00:12:30.520right now. Future things can come in the future, but there's one thing at a time.
00:12:34.160The Emerson results also revealing some notable divides within the perspective field.
00:12:37.880Senator Ossoff added to Emerson's list of prospective candidates this month,
00:12:42.120immediately entering the field with substantially greater support among men than women.
00:12:46.340Governor Newsom and Ocasio-Cortez performing considerably better among women,
00:12:50.260while Buttigieg receives equal support from male and female Democrat voters.
00:12:54.400Former Vice President Harris failing to register strong support in either poll,
00:12:58.540despite reporting that many of her advisors see her as the 2028 frontrunner.
00:13:03.52013% of Democrat voters remain undecided more than two years before the first presidential
00:13:08.540primary votes are scheduled to be cast.
00:13:12.400Coming up, Minnesota political assassin Vance Belter learns his fate as victims and their
00:18:43.100He collected his third straight unanimous league MVP with a franchise record, 55 home runs.
00:18:51.060The president also highlighting the obstacles Los Angeles overcame on its way back to the World Series.
00:18:56.140This group started their title defense with nine pitchers injured before the first fastball was ever thrown.
00:19:04.100They played their opening game in Tokyo and traveled more than 2,000 miles.
00:19:09.080It's more than any team has ever traveled.
00:19:11.140In fact, from the first pitch to the final out, they endured and triumphed through the longest season of any team in the history of Major League Baseball, 229 days.
00:19:22.940In the postseason, the Dodgers exploded with nine wins in their first 10 games. Unbeatable.
00:19:29.840In the National League Championship Series against the Brewers, the brilliant Dodgers pitching rotation of Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei, and of course, Yoshi Yamamoto combined for a record-setting ERA of just .63.
00:19:49.960The team then presenting President Trump with his own World Series championship ring, along with a custom Dodgers jersey bearing his name and the number 47.
00:19:57.820The event concluding with President Trump inviting the team inside the Oval Office for a private tour.
00:20:05.920That'll do it for your AM update. I'm Emily Jashinsky, host of After Party.
00:20:09.780Go and check out more at AfterPartyEmily.com.
00:20:12.200Catch The Megyn Kelly Show later today, live on SiriusXM's The Megyn Kelly Channel 111 at noon east on YouTube.com slash Megyn Kelly and all podcast platforms.