Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz sent letters to Secretary Denis McDonough of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Mike Bost, asking for oversight of the VA in light of reports that the department’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) “support groups” exclude white veterans.
On May 12, 2024, a report by the Washington Free Beacon outlined a number of examples of VA-sponsored “support groups” throughout the country that exclude white American veterans from participation, which is in violation of the law and the Constitution.
Accordingly, the letter to Secretary McDonough requests information be provided to Rep. Gaetz on the “support groups” at the VA. Furthermore, the letter to Chairman Bost requests oversight of this shocking revelation.
Read: University Of North Carolina Votes To Gut DEI Budget, Spend Money On Cops And Security
“I am writing to you today to request an oversight hearing by your Committee into a number of outrageous, race-based “support” groups operating at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. As we both know, the VA is tasked with the critical mission of providing support to American veterans, and I believe that the attached Washington Free Beacon article will shock you. That article outlines a number of examples of purported “support groups” that exclude white American veterans from participation, in violation of law and the Constitution,” Gaetz wrote.
“These programs appear to be popping up nationwide, and appear on the official VA website, indicating a serious policy and oversight problem at the VA. No federal resources, let alone sponsorship by the agency itself, should be given to these discriminatory programs. My attached oversight letter to the VA went out today as well. I would be very pleased for any help your leadership position can provide here, on behalf of American vets of all races,” said Gaetz.
In another case of federal DEI, as Tampa Free Press reported, more than three dozen U.S. Secret Service agents seek a probe into whether the Biden administration’s DEI policies are undercutting the agency’s ability to perform its core mission.
Read: Georgia Woman, Former DEI Manager At Facebook And Nike, Sentenced In $5 Million Fraud Case
At least 39 USSS agents had signed a petition calling for a congressional investigation into whether “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies have created a national security threat.
The agents are circulating the petition are concerned about “incidents indicative of inadequate training,’ a double standard in disciplinary actions, and a vulnerability ‘to potential insider threats.’”
According to the conservative website Western Journal, the petition was launched after a female USSS agent assigned to Vice President Kamala Harris’ security detail reportedly suffered a breakdown and initiated a physical confrontation with her commanding agent at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
The incident occurred last month.
According to Real Clear Politics, which was the first to report the incident, the agent in question, Michelle Herczeg, reported to the base and began acting erratically.
She grabbed another senior agent’s personal cellphone and deleted apps from it. The agent retrieved his phone and thought nothing more about it.
But Herczeg then reportedly began “mumbling to herself, hid behind curtains, and started throwing items, including menstrual pads, at an agent, telling him that he would need them later to save another agent and telling her peers that they were ‘going to burn in hell and needed to listen to God,’” RCP reported.
Read: Maine Man Investigated By Secret Service After Saying He Wanted To See Biden In An Adult Diaper
Herczeg also screamed at the special agent in charge and claimed female officers on Harris’ detail would help her and allow her to continue working.
“At that point, other agents on the scene believed Herczeg was suffering from a mental lapse, and the superior officer … approached her to tell her she was relieved from the assignment,” RCP noted. That was when she “snapped entirely,” a source told the outlet.
She chest-bumped and shoved her superior, then tackled him and punched him. Other agents rushed to restrain Herczeg, taking her gun, cuffing her, and removing her from the scene.
RCP added, “Secret Service agents and officers are privately questioning the hiring process and whether the agency had adequately screened Herczeg’s background.”
“Some also wonder whether her hire was part of a diversity, equity, and inclusion push in response to years of staff shortages that may have required the agency to lower its once-strict employment standards and physical performance to reach quotas for female agents and officers.”
RCP noted that in 2016, Herczeg, who at the time was a Dallas police officer, filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city, asserting she was assaulted by a male superior. She sought more than $1 million in damages.
Read: RFK Jr. Says Biden’s “Blatant Corruption” Is Denying Him Secret Service Protection
The Western Journal noted that agents question whether Herczeg’s hiring was part of a “DEI initiative within the Secret Service to push for a force that’s 30 percent female by 2030.”
RCP noted that “the Secret Service has ranked either dead last or near the bottom of a government employee survey of job satisfaction conducted annually by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.”
RCP reporter Susan Crabtree said on X last week that the Secret Service seeks a similar DEI-based investigation launched by the Republican-led Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
The committee told FBI Director Christopher Wray in a letter that it sought to learn whether “the FBI’s hyper-fixation on hitting Biden Administration-imposed DEI initiatives, rather than qualifications that make the best federal law enforcement candidates and officers, has created a climate within the FBI that puts the American public and American civil liberties at risk.”
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