Several secret service agents have criticized Donald Trump’s drive-by appearance outside of Walter Reed Medical Center on Sunday evening (Oct. 4).
The president, who tested for positive for Coronavirus last Thursday (Oct. 1), briefly left the facility to make an appearance to his supporters. Trump was escorted in a black SUV with several secret service agents inside the vehicle. As they drove by, he waved at the crowd — while his mask was on and the windows were up.
Advisors told The Washington Post that the president was “bored in the hospital” and White House and campaign officials said he “wanted to show strength” to his supporters.
Anonymous secret service agents reached out to multiple news outlets to criticize the president for putting their lives in danger with his latest stunt. “He’s not even pretending to care now,” one agent told The Washington Post.
“That should never have happened,” another unnamed agent told CNN. “The frustration with how we’re treated when it comes to decisions on this illness goes back before this though. We’re not disposable.”
The White House is defending Trump’s appearance outside of the hospital. On Sunday, Spokesman Judd Deere said that “appropriate precautions were taken in the execution of this movement to protect the president and all those supporting it.”
Saad B. Omer, Global Health Director at Yale Institute, tweeted that although the president was wearing a mask, it won’t 100% protect those who are near him. “This is an individual with an active infection in close proximity with two other individuals, in a vehicle with closed windows, performing an optional task (masks help, but they are not an impenetrable force field),” he tweeted.
On Thursday, Trump and his wife Melania announced that they had tested positive for COVID-19. Since then, multiple members of the White House have tested positive as well. The president could be discharged from the hospital on Friday (Oct.5).
Check out video footage of Trump’s hospital drive-by below.