Tuesday afternoon, the Washington Examiner broke the story of a Secret Service agent who, in October on Facebook, declared her unwillingness to put her life on the line for a potential President Donald Trump. At that point, Kelly O'Grady, the special agent in charge for the Denver district, decided to become a selective Service agent, writing, per the Examiner, that "she would endure jail time' rather than 'taking a bullet' for what she regarded as a 'disaster' for America." The post ended with, "I'm with her," so it's not exactly difficult to determine that the potential "disaster" was Donald Trump.
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The New York Times waited about 24 hours before covering the story. As of 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, the Associated Press had not yet posted a related story at either of its two national sites.
I did not find an AP story at either its main national site, where stories generally remain for two weeks or less, or at its Big Story site, where stories remain longer, often for years. (Searches were done on both "Kelly Secret Service" and "Kelly O'Grady," each not in quotes.)
A Secret Service agent who won't do the job she has sworn to do is somehow not as important at the AP as a tweet expressing a desire that Trump be assassinated posted by a Louisville, Kentucky-area woman. The AP currently has a story on this at its main national sites. Of course any such threat is serious stuff, but it's certainly more unusual, and obviously more newsworthy, when a Secret Service agent does something so apparently unprecedented.
It's clear, based on their behavior during the Obama administration's eight-year tenure, that if a similar story had appeared anywhere during that time, the national press would have been on it in minutes, and the TV networks would have prominently covered the story in their evening newscasts.
The Washington Post put up a story on O'Grady very early Wednesday morning (Eastern Time), as seen at the Denver Post. Abby Phillips' third paragraph appeared to try to build an excuse for O'Grady's behavior:
Denver Secret Service agent may face disciplinary action over anti-Trump Facebook posts
Special agent Kerry O’Grady wrote: “I would take jail time over a bullet”A senior official with the U.S. Secret Service may face disciplinary action after posting comments to Facebook suggesting that she would not “take a bullet” for President Donald Trump.
Kerry O’Grady, the special agent in charge for the Denver district, also added “I am with her,” a nod to the slogan for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, to the posting.
O’Grady’s comments were made in October, during the height of the presidential campaign and shortly after an audio tape of Trump making lewd comments about women was released. But they only came to light this week.
... In an interview with the Washington Examiner, O’Grady said she regretted the posting.
“It was an internal struggle for me but as soon as I put it up, I thought it was not the sentiment that I needed to share because I care very deeply about the mission,” she said.
That doesn't quite get to the level of "I was wrong, I'm sorry," does it?
The Washington Post story is present at its website, but I had to do a search on reporter Abby Phillip and not "Kelly O'Grady" to find it.
The Times also had this on O'Grady:
Ms. O’Grady is a special agent responsible for the Secret Service’s investigative, intelligence and protective missions throughout Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho, according to information on her career published at an event in Colorado in 2016 that highlighted women in unconventional jobs.
Ms. O’Grady could not be reached by telephone or email on Wednesday. But The Examiner, which said it had contacted her on Monday, quoted her as saying she would not “shirk” her duties to protect the president.
Whether O'Grady remains in her "unconventional job" at an agency which can little afford yet another black eye after its Obama-era "scandals and screwups" — something news report I'm aware of mentioned, but which Fox & Friends did discuss in a segment Wednesday morning — would appear to be a still-open question.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
