A senior U.S. Secret Service member suggested she would not take a bullet for President Trump in an October post on Facebook.
Kerry O’Grady said she would rather do “jail time” than take “a bullet” for Trump — who is a “disaster to this country,” she wrote in a post obtained by The Washington Examiner.
She also endorsed Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton for president.
In her post, O’Grady acknowledged that expressing her political beliefs on social media is a violation of the Hatch Act. The act prohibits executive branch members, excluding the president, vice president and other designed officials, from making partisan statements.
“As a public servant for nearly 23 years, I struggle to not violate the Hatch Act. So I keep quiet and skirt the median. To do otherwise can be a criminal offense for those in my position,” she wrote. “Despite the fact that I am expected to take a bullet for both sides. But this world has changed and I have changed. And I would take jail time over a bullet or an endorsement for what I believe to be disaster to this country and the strong and amazing women and minorities who reside here. Hatch Act be damned. I am with Her.”
O’Grady serves as a the Secret Service agent in charge of the Denver district, where she helps coordinate presidential trips to the area.
The Washington Examiner reported that her post resulted in at least one complaint to the office that manages investigations into Secret Service members.
{mosads}O’Grady said she deleted the post after several days.
“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 told the Examiner.
O’Grady has not stopped posting on social media, the Examiner reported. She changed her Facebook cover photo to an image promoting the women’s march in Denver.
She commented on the post saying, “all of these women represent me! Proud to say it! #nasty.” She also posted a photo of Princess Leia from Star Wars with the words, “A woman’s place is in the resistance.”
Those images were both removed after the Examiner’s interview with her.
“But I recognize that the agency is the most important thing to me,” she said. “My government is the most important thing to me. I serve at the pleasure of the president, but I still have the First Amendment right to say things.”