In all the confusion surrounding yesterday’s Hillary health scare, the WaPo reported originally, and then revised, that none other than the Secret Service “broke its own protocol” in the confused, stunned context of Hillary Clinton’s early departure from Ground Zero on Sunday. The Wapo brought attention to the widely circulated video of the Democratic presidential nominee’s departure from the ceremony, in which Clinton can be seen leaning against a security bollard and then buckling and stumbling as her security detail helps her into a black van.
Citing two former Secret Service agents who reviewed the video, “the detail clearly had to rush and did not expect Clinton to leave at that time. They said the Service generally prefers for the protected individual not to wait for a car to arrive, although that has happened before. In the video, Clinton is leaning against the bollard as a black van pulls up.” More importantly, the WaPo – which recently recanted its accusation that anyone who inquires into Hillary’s health is a right wing conspiracy theorist, writes that it is “it is also unusual for a detail leader to leave the protected individual’s side, as a Secret Service agent, Todd Madison, is seen doing in the video, to open the van’s doors. Opening the van is typically left to another agent. But because of the rushed nature of the departure, one of the former agents said, another rule of Secret Service protection appears to have carried the day: Whoever is closest to the door must open it.“
The incident also raised questions about Clinton’s travelling pool of reporters, which she left behind at ground zero when she departed unexpectedly, leaving the press with no knowledge of her whereabouts or condition for about 90 minutes.
What is clear is that despite supposedly having had advance knowledge of her pneumonia diagnosis, knowledge which her secret service team would undoubtedly be aware of and would have been able to react to accordingly – with a car ready to pick up Hillary on a moment’s notice – as it would suggest that Hillary is far more frail than conventionally expected, none of this information had actually trickled down to the protective detail. Many have speculated – “conspiratorially” to quote the WaPo as of last week – that this is because the information did not exist, and that Hillary, who was being tested for neurological (dys)function like clasping a doctor’s fingers to test for hand-to-eye coordination and response…
… had a very different health problem than the “benign” one being revealed by her personal doctor.
While it is unclear right now if Hillary suffers from any other afflictions beside pneumonia, the truth will eventually come out. However, what is obvious is that the Secret Service did not enjoy being called out for being completely unprepared, especially not by a pro-Hillary outlet such as the WaPo. As a result, Secret Service spokeswoman Cathy Milhoan issued the following statement later Sunday: “During the early departure today of one of our protectees, at no time did any Secret Service personnel violate security protocols.”
Milhoan later added: “The Secret Service is confident in the actions taken by its Protective Detail earlier today.”
FACT CHECK: At no time did @SecretService personnel violate security protocols during the early departure of one of our protectees.
— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) September 11, 2016
The @SecretService is confident in the actions taken by its Protective Detail earlier today.
— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) September 11, 2016
As of this moment, any indication the Secret Servce was just as shocked as Hillary’s media pool, not to mention the general population, is gone, and the original WaPo article has been revised as follows:
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to remove the assertion that the Secret Service may have broken protocol in responding to Clinton’s illness, which was published before the agency was able to respond. In a statement sent later, a spokesman for the agency said that “at no time did any Secret Service personnel violate security protocols.”
We hope they are telling the truth, if so at least there are no surprises when Hillary suffers her next pneumonia relapse in public, assuming she dares to brave the elements with her pneumonia over the next several weeks, when she clearly had no problem blasting the “basket of deplorables” during the Friday night fundraiser organized by Barbra Streisand, just after she had allegedly learned of her lung infection.
via http://ift.tt/2c6AWX2 Tyler Durden