FIRST ON FOX: A non-profit group has launched an investigation into the Secret Service's Diversity Equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Trump last month.
Mountain States Legal Foundation, (MSLF) a Colorado-based organization, says it is looking into how the controversial policy may have led to security being dangerously lax at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Thomas Matthew Crooks managed to scale the roof of a nearby building and fire off eight shots with one bullet grazing the right ear of the former commander-in-chief. One attendee, Corey Comperatore, was fatally struck, while two others were also hit and suffered serious injuries in an event that could have plunged the nation into a political crisis.
MSLF says its investigation is examining how DEI impacted the elite agency’s hiring, retention, and promotion. Critics of DEI say the policy elevates those of a certain sex or ethnicity over those who may be more qualified, thus the best person for a particular job may not get the role, thereby lowering standards overall.
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Liberal author and NYU history professor said the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump makes him even more like Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Some of the female agents who came to Trump’s aid as the gunfire rang out faced criticism online. One of the agents was attacked for not being big enough to shield Trump’s large body – his Fulton County Jail booking lists him as 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighing 215 pounds -- while another was panned after video showed she had trouble placing her gun in its holster.
The non-profit says its seeking information from Secret Service agents – both current and former – as well as agency applicants who believe that they were wrongfully discriminated against based on their sex.
MSLF also plans to file a lawsuit against the Secret Service over what it calls "discriminatory and dangerous civil rights violations," claiming that "credible evidence exists to corroborate malfeasance."
"USSS must be held accountable for its reckless and unlawful employment practices; a legal challenge will ensure that moving forward, only the most qualified individuals will be hired, retained, and promoted," a statement by MSLF reads.
A Secret Service spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the agency does not comment on litigation matters.
The agency's handling of security on the day of the July 13 rally has come in for scathing criticism, with some critics pointing to DEI as one of the reasons which led to the shooting.
"There should not be any women in the Secret Service. These are supposed to be the very best, and none of the very best at this job are women," conservative political commentator Matt Walsh posted on X the morning after the assassination attempt. "If there’s a woman doing a job like this, it 100 percent means that a more qualified male was passed over."
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Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2024, about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
However, following the backlash, former President Trump came out and praised the female agents.
"Every one of them – there wasn’t one that was slow. A woman who was on my right, she was shielding me," he said at a rally at St. Cloud, Minnesota, two weeks later. "Beautiful person – she was shielding me, everything she could. And she got crushed. And she got criticized by the fake news because she wasn’t tall enough."
In the wake of the assassination attempt, then Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was accused of prioritizing "woke" ideologies rooted in DEI instead of only focusing on hiring the best for the agency.
Cheatle, the second woman to lead the agency, said last year that she planned to have 30 percent female recruits by 2030. A 2023 recruitment brochure states that 24.7% of the Secret Service workforce is female.
Cristen Wohlgemuth, the president and CEO of MSLF, said that the assassination attempt highlighted Cheatle’s previous comments about prioritizing DEI.
"Those comments speak to something deeper at the Secret Service -- how much have Biden-Harris appointees let DEI culture fester at the agency?" Wohlgemuth told Fox News Digital. "And did that culture play a role in the massive security breach at the rally in Pennsylvania? DEI hiring policies are both illegal and dangerous, and must be challenged at every turn."
"DEI hiring policies are both illegal and dangerous, and must be challenged at every turn."
In 2023, the Secret Service's DEI director Loucious Hires highlighted efforts to advance the policy within the agency, calling it a "mission imperative." The agency said it was striving to be the "gold standard" of DEI in a recruitment brochure that same year.
Hires, on the official government podcast "Standing Post," outlined how every action at the Secret Service should be informed by DEI and claimed the ideology makes the organization stronger. Every employee should consider how every action is reflective of equity, according to the director.
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Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as multiple shots rang out during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
However, Wohlgemuth said it’s essential that only the most exceptional individuals wear the badge of the Secret Service.
U.S. Secret Service agents represent the pinnacle of American law enforcement, dedicating their lives to safeguarding protectees, vital locations, and major events," Wohlgemuth said in a statement.
"If you’re a current or former agent, or even an applicant, who believes the agency has compromised its mission for the sake of DEI, we urge you to contact us. When the safety of the leader of the free world is at stake, only merit should matter—nothing else."
Fox News' Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.