(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Pentagon announced Thursday that the U.S. Northern Command will assist the Secret Service for the presidential and vice-presidential campaigns through Inauguration Day 2025.
“As part of this effort, the Department of Defense is providing the U.S. Secret Service with additional assistance including logistics, transportation and communications, through the 2024 campaign season,” Secret Service spokesman Guglielmi said in a Defense Department press release.
The Pentagon assistance comes as the Secret Service faces a reported 650-agent deficit for the United Nations General Assembly, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 10th in New York City. According to journalist Susan Crabtree, there are concerns in the Secret Service that the Pentagon’s soldiers don’t have proper training, and that their presence will create the perception that the U.S. has turned into a militarized police state.
🚨EXCLUSIVE AND BREAKING: The Secret Service is stretched SO THIN with protecting Trump, Harris, and roughly 30 other campaign principals + protectees that it's facing A DEFICIT OF 650 SPECIAL AGENTS to provide security for the United Nations General Assembly, which is scheduled… pic.twitter.com/SMdwEQ9MHa
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) August 30, 2024
However, the Pentagon insisted in its press release that there’s nothing unusual about its decision.
“The Department of Defense has supported Secret Service protective activities for the sitting president and vice president since Congress passed the Presidential Protection Assistance Act of 1976,” said Guglielmi, the chief of communications for the Secret Service.
“As has been the case for many years, the U.S. Secret Service relies on federal, state and local partners to assist with protective operations.”
Among the times the DoD has assisted the Secret Service was in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill uprising, when National Guard troops guarded the inauguration of President Joe Biden. The Pentagon attached a photo of the 2021 inauguration with its Thursday press release.
The presence of U.S. service members in New York City has also sparked theories that they will be help Democrat Judge Juan Merchan—who’s set to sentence Donald Trump in the Manhattan campaign finance case on Sept. 18.
This could be huge. This video from earlier today seems to confirm Laura's report. If they really are preparing to lock up Trump mere weeks before the election, using the military no less, this country is in real trouble. pic.twitter.com/Qk8kbLOVxS
— Clint Russell (@LibertyLockPod) August 31, 2024
According to Laura Loomer—who has reported false stories in the past—a federal agent told her the National Guard is in New York City to help send Trump to prison.
“Source says the National Guard is being staged there because the Mayor of NYC @ericadamsfornyc and the Governor of New York @GovKathyHochul both believe the police unions are preparing to stage a mass ‘out sick’ day in support of President Trump on September 18th because none of the officers want to be involved in the persecution of Donald Trump,” Loomer said Friday.
It turns out, the National Guard were guarding a migrant hotel in the video circulated in conjunction with the Loomer report.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
