A Washington, D.C. police officer who worked as a motorcycle escort for White House officials reportedly told colleagues he would shoot First Lady Michelle Obama—then he showed them a picture on his cellphone of the firearm he would use to do it.
According to a story in the Washington Post, the man has been moved to administrative duty as the police department’s Internal Affairs Division conducts an investigation into his comments. The police department notified the Secret Service on Wednesday.
The officer’s comments allegedly came as a group of officers from the Special Operations Division were talking about threats made against the Obamas. One of the officers who heard the threat reported it to a police lieutenant in the Division, who immediately notified superiors.
“We received an allegation that inappropriate comments were made. We are currently investigating the nature of those comments,” D.C. police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump said in an e-mail to the Post. She declined to discuss the matter further.
According to the Post, there was no indication that Michelle Obama was in any legitimate danger. A Secret Service spokesman told the Post that the agency is aware of the threat and “will conduct appropriate follow-up.” The integrity of the Secret Service has been questioned of late after reports arose of inappropriate relations with prostitutes while the agents were in Colombia to protect the president. One can imagine that the president, who has shown an inclination in the past to be very protective of his wife and his children, will not be pleased by the report of a possible rogue officer in the D.C. police department’s Special Operations Division.
If the Secret Service is committed to investigating all credible threats to the president and his family from average citizens, what might be their response to a threat coming from an officer close to their own ranks? When the matter has been fully investigated, it will be interesting to see if the results will be released to the public.
