(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A Secret Service agent protecting Vice President Kamala Harris started a fight with several other agents on Monday morning, ultimately leading to her dismissal from Harris’s team, according to the New York Post.
The clash took place at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, D.C. Though not officially confirmed by the Secret Service, several sources within the community identified the attacker as Michelle Herczeg.
A statement from Anthony Guglielmi, the chief of communications for the Secret Service, said that the agent “began displaying behavior their colleagues found distressing.”
Herczeg reportedly took her colleague’s personal phones and deleted apps, mumbled to herself, hid behind curtains and threw items at other agents.
She also told her co-workers that they were “going to burn in hell and needed to listen to God.”
Herczeg became aggressive after a supervisor told her to relax. The agent attacked the special agent in charge of the vice president, getting on top of and punching him.
Her colleagues put her in handcuffs, took her firearm and called medical personnel to remove her.
Reports indicated that other agents expressed relief that she did not shoot the special agent in charge.
According to RealClearPolitics White House Correspondent Susan Crabtree, Herczeg may have been a diversity hire.
“I’m also told there are DEI concerns among the USSS [Secret Service] community about the hiring of this agent,” Crabtree said in a post on Twitter.
“Other agents and officers within the USSS are asking questions about the agent’s hiring process, whether the USSS did enough to look into the agent’s background and monitor the agent’s mental well-being because there have been widespread concerns about other strange behavior before this incident,” she added.
BREAKING: Sources within the Secret Service community tell me the agent assigned to VP Kamala Harris was armed during the fight – that the gun was secured in the agent's holster until other agents physically restrained the agent and took the gun from the agent's possession.
I'm… https://t.co/kxLLOlFy4b— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) April 24, 2024
Herczeg attempted to sue the Dallas Police Department, her previous employer, in a gender discrimination lawsuit in 2016. She claimed a male superior assaulted her and requested more than $1 million in damages. A trial court dismissed the suit.
Herczeg’s hiring raised some questions about slipping standards within the U.S. Secret Service.
Harris, who was on her way to New York City for an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, still left on time despite the fight.
