‘He’s Not Even Pretending to Care’: Secret Service Agents Horrified By Trump’s Walter Reed Drive By
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Current and former Secret Service agents were reportedly horrified by President Donald Trump’s drive by outside of Walter Reed Hospital on Sunday.
Trump was seen waving to supporters in black SUV Sunday afternoon, as he was driven around near Walter Reed Hospital, where he is receiving treatment for his coronavirus symptoms.
Although the president and the agents in the SUV with him all wore masks, they were clearly unable to socially distance and were trapped in a small enclosed space together.
“He’s not even pretending to care now,” one agent told The Washington Post. “Where are the adults?” said another.
Secret Service agents have not been the only ones to express their frustration with the president’s joyride.
Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, noted that even when doctors and medical experts are in contact with coronavirus patients, they are dressed in full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
By taking a joy ride outside Walter Reed the president is placing his Secret Service detail at grave risk. In the hospital when we go into close contact with a COVID patient we dress in full PPE: Gown, gloves, N95, eye protection, hat. This is the height of irresponsibility.
— Jonathan Reiner (@JReinerMD) October 4, 2020
Dr. James Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed Hospital, was also infuriated by the stunt, and took to Twitter to call out the president’s “insanity.”
“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die,” he wrote in a tweet. “For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.”
“That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play,” he added in a second post.
