National Security
Secret Service Agents bribed by men with Iran, Pakistan visas pretending to be DHS Agents
Four secret Service employees who were special agents to the Bidens are “entangled in an alleged bribery scheme carried out by two men accused of masquerading as Department of Homeland Security law enforcement agents” , reports Real Clear Politics.
Two men impersonating DHS agents allegedly attempted to bribe the four members of the Secret Service. In an affidavit, the FBI said the men “have been pretending to be DHS agents from as early as February until their arrest and noted that they carried insignias and firearms used by federal agents as part of that deception. The goal was to ‘ingratiate themselves with members of the federal law enforcement and the defense community.”
The men accused of bribery are Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali, both U.S. citizens with passports and visas to Iran and Pakistan who appear to have targeted an apartment complex which is home to many law enforcement employees from the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security.
Real Clear Politics reports Taharzadeh and Ali “seemed to have control of five apartments. When investigators searched the defendants’ apartments, they found a drone, handguns, ammunition, bullet-proof body armor, gas masks, zip ties, handheld radios, body cameras, binoculars, a high-powered telescope, and four laptop computers. They also discovered what appeared to be official DHS patches and training manuals, scopes for weapons, components of disassembled rifles, and a list of every resident of the apartment complex.”
Their cover was blown when a U.S. postal inspector responded to the apartment complex to investigate an alleged assault on a letter carrier. During the investigation, the inspector spoke with Taherzadeh and Ali, who gave them wild tales about being investigators with the U.S. Special Police investigation Unit and “deputized special police” with the city of Washington.
It was revealed in an affidavit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. that one of the agents caught up in the bribery scheme was a special agent assigned to First Lady Jill Biden’s protective detail. A second agent was a Uniformed Division officer at the White House.
A third Secret Service special agent is assigned to President Biden’s detail, Real Clear Politics learned. The agent’s position puts him at the President’s side “nearly everywhere he goes and stands by his side during the most sensitive of discussions and private moments.”
The fourth agent, a second Uniformed Division officer, was assigned to protect Vice President Harris’s residence. Real Clear Politics details the bribery accusations:
According to court filings, one of the more troubling details of the case involves Taherzadah allegedly offering to give an assault rifle worth $2,000 to the Secret Service agent assigned to Jill Biden. The filing also says that Taherzadeh lent what he described as a “government vehicle” to the same Secret Service agent’s wife and also gave her a generator.
Taherzadeh is also accused of giving members of the Secret Service, as well as a legitimate DHS employee, “rent-free apartments (with a total yearly rent of over $40,000 per apartment), iPhones, surveillance systems, a drone, a flat-screen television, a case for storing an assault rifle, a generator and law enforcement paraphernalia,” the filing states. Prosecutors say one of the agents who received the free rent and additional gifts is the Uniformed Division officer assigned to the White House.
That agent lived rent-free in a three-bedroom apartment that generally would rent for $48,000 annually, the filing said. It was located at the same complex where Taherzadeh lived. Prosecutors said he was tricked into believing accepting the free rent wouldn’t raise ethics or conflict of interest issues because Taherzadeh told the agent that a division of DHS “had approved extra rooms as part of his operations, and that [agent] could live in one of them for free.”
“The investigation confirmed that there are no such [DHS] operations, and it authorized no such expense,” the filing said.
Nation
BREAKING: Trump Assassination Attempt Hearing Turns Into Screaming Match
What was supposed to be a hearing on the Secret Service agency’s failures leading to two assassination attempts against President-elect Trump, led to a shouting match on Capitol Hill. Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, “shouted at Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, after the GOP lawmaker lambasted the service for security lapses that made Trump a target of two failed shooting attempts” according to Fox News, which details:
The outburst happened after Fallon showed a picture of Presidents Biden and Trump at a 9/11 commemoration ceremony this year and suggested that as the Special Agent in Charge of that detail, Rowe should have been close enough to Biden to be in the picture. Rowe was not pictured.
“Who is usually at an event like this closest to the President of the United States?” Fallon asked, pointing at the photo. “Were you the special agent in charge of the detail that day?”
Rowe said the security detail was present but out of view of the camera. As he spoke, he became enraged and accused Fallon of using 9/11 for political purposes.
“That is the day where we remember more than 3,000 people that have died on 9/11. I actually responded to Ground Zero,” Rowe said. “I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center.”
“I’m not asking that, I’m asking you, if you were… were you the special agent in charge!?” Fallon interrupted, shouting at Rowe.
Rowe raised his voice in response. “I was there to show respect for a Secret Service member that died on 9/11!” he yelled back.
“Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes!” Rowe screamed at the lawmaker.
“I’m not,” Fallon fired back, as the committee chairman demanded order and banged his gavel.
“You are, sir. You are out of line, congressman!” Rowe fumed. “Way out of line.”
Fallon then accused Rowe of “playing politics” by refusing to answer his question.
“I am a public servant who has served this nation,” Rowe retorted, saying he served on the nation’s “darkest day.”
“You will not politicize it!” Rowe thundered.
WATCH EXCHANGE: FOX NEWS
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