By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The Secret Service’s rough treatment of a Time photographer during a Donald Trump rally has raised serious questions about the agency’s role during campaigns.
The Secret Service responded Wednesday that it does not remove protesters from campaign events unless a threat is posed to the candidate, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Secret Service said its agents were not involved in ejecting a group of black students from a Trump rally in Georgia this week.
But the agency said it’s still investigating a altercation between an agent and a photojournalist at the rally.
“The Secret Service does not engage in any action to address or remove any individual or group exercising First Amendment rights who may create a disruption at a secured venue,” the Secret Service said in a statement. “The Secret Service only intervenes if an individual or group poses a security threat to a protectee or interferes with any law enforcement activity.”
The Secret Services rejected claims that its agents removed protesters during the rally.
“Reports that the Secret Service escorted attendees out of the premises at an event in Georgia this past Monday evening are false. The Secret Service does not escort attendees out of protectees’ events in such circumstances and it was not the Secret Service who did so at that event,” the agency said.
