The U.S. Secret Service has confirmed that it is investigating allegations of misconduct against one of its agents in response to an inquiry about a report claiming that the special agent in question groped a female staff member of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign after getting drunk.
“The U.S. Secret Service Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating a misconduct allegation involving an employee,” the spokesperson said in response to the inquiry. “The Secret Service holds its personnel to the highest standards. The employee has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.”
The spokesperson did not confirm the details of the allegations, which claim that the special agent in question and several Harris campaign staff members dined and drank alcohol at a restaurant in an undisclosed location in Wisconsin last week, with the group going back to the female staffer’s hotel room afterward. The report alleged that the agent in question was so drunk that his co-workers kicked him out of their hotel room and he later passed out in the hallway.
The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment and more details on the matter.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said recently that some agents who were involved in securing the July 13 rally would face discipline by the agency’s internal office of integrity in line with its “table of penalties,” Rowe told reporters at a Sept. 20 press conference in Washington.