A House chairman on Monday asked the Secret Service for a briefing after several agents accompanied President Donald Trump on an SUV ride around Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Trump, 74, tested positive for COVID-19 last week.
House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said he wants to hear from the service about how agents are being protected.
“The height of reckless disregard for others was the president’s ‘joyride’ yesterday where Secret Service agents were required to drive him around in a hermetically sealed vehicle. Exposing Secret Service personnel to the virus does not just put them at risk, it puts their families and the public at risk,” Thompson said in a statement.
“So we can know more about how these events have affected the Secret Service and national security, I have requested a briefing from the agency on the current safeguards in place for their employees—including on the president’s protective detail—and how Secret Service agents can be kept safe from coronavirus-related threats, including apparently the president himself.”
The Secret Service didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Trump on Sunday was driven past a crowd of supporters who had gathered outside Walter Reed.
Trump, sitting in the back seat, waved to them.
The Secret Service agents inside wore masks and other personal protective gear (PPE).
“Appropriate precautions were taken in the execution of this movement to protect the president and all those supporting it, including PPE. The movement was cleared by the medical team as safe to do,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.
The outing came after Trump wrote in a tweet that he might “pay a little surprise to some of the great patriots that we have out on the street.”
The president took to Twitter to rebut criticism of the drive, saying: “It is reported that the Media is upset because I got into a secure vehicle to say thank you to the many fans and supporters who were standing outside of the hospital for many hours, and even days, to pay their respect to their President. If I didn’t do it, Media would say RUDE!!!”
