She [Hillary Clinton) ultimately decided she still loved her husband, although “as a wife, I wanted to wring Bill’s neck.”, Foxnews Website, 4 June 2003
This from her long-awaited memoir, detailing her feelings when Bill finally confessed to her about Monica. My question: Does the Secret Service step in on aany and all situations where the President is being subjected to violence? When the First Lady is wringing the President’s neck? Sure. How about a knee to the wayward family jewels? A slap to the face? A poke in the eye? Does the Presidential detail jump on top of Hillary and wrestle her to the ground while dragging Bill off to some bunker under the White House and sending Al Gore to some secret location in case they can’t protect Bill from Hillary’s wrath?
OK, that was written tongue-in-cheek, but the question stands: How far does the Secret Service get involved in preventing violence being done on the President’s person?
I’m not sure, but I heard she actually threw stuff at him. She could have injured him seriously. I guess you’d have to break it up, but discreetly. Right?
I guess we could all speculate and even giggle at the thought. I’m wondering if the Secret Service has guidelines on this sort of thing, or if they developed guidelines after the Clinton-Lewinsky mess and all the fallout.
Of course, Clinton would have been taken to hospital after having tripped in the hallway and falling onto a statue, right? There is no way, at the time, the real story would have been told. Not just because it was embarassing, but because having it known the executive power of the most powerful nation on the planet was held by a guy consumed with marital woes bordering on assault would have had implications too scary to contemplate. Imagine how world leaders would have dealt with Clinton knowing that sort of stuff was going on.
I wonder know if there is, or should be, a mechanism to yank the President out and put in the Vice President if it became obvious that his personal life was causing him to neglect his duties, even inadvertantly.
As I understand it, and therefore admit I am no expert, the secret service stand guard outside the door of the “residence”, the section of the White House specifically dedicated to the President and the American First Family and they do not enter that section unless an alarm is triggered or they need to evacuate the building etc.
Since this speculative “Bill Bashing” from Hilary would probably happen behind closed doors I doubt that the Secret Service would get involved unless it turned really nasty and I am guessing the Secret Service would step in if they heard stuff being thrown about etc but I doubt they would seriously get involved unless the President asked them to by calling for them or pressing a panic button (or something similar).
It is a difficult situation to judge but I think they would act like the police, reluctant to get involved in a domestic situation. It is, at the end of the day between a man and his wife (yes, granted he is the President but still…). They are entitled to argue and probably do try and retain some remnants of a domestic life.
Obviously, the Bodyguards job is to protect the President from all forms of threat or a life endangering situation. However, if they did get involved and there was an incident I doubt we would ever hear about it.
It is a very interesting debate to have, questioning how far Personal Protection officers should get involved. Over here in Britain there were questions recently on how Prince Harry’s bodyguards should act or get involved. (When he admitted to smoking cannabis people questioned why his bodyguards didn’t step in (In Britain the bodyguards are specially trained Police detectives) and why, as police officers, they didn’t step in to stop him. They argue that they are there to ‘protect his life and not act as a police officer or a nanny’.
To read more about how protection works in Britain read my reply to another thread by clicking HERE
(fifth post down).
(Again, I am not an expert. I picked most of that up by watching Discovery channel documentaries, reading newspapers etc and some of it is speculation and guess work)
Makes sense, Kris. Recent experience with the Bush daughters suggests that in the US, the same principle applies (the girls have been brought up on charges for under-aged drinking, despite having minders on them 24/7). “Protection from others and not from themselves” is the model they follow. But is a wife “other” or not? Damn sticky question, that. Imagine if Hillary had laid Bill low with a statuette to the noggin. I wouldn’t want to be the Secret Service guy on station when that happened. Do you think they sweep the personal residence for material that could be used as a weapon? Do you think they may alter their behaviour depending on who is in the White House? I just don’t see the Secret Service being as worried about this sort of thing with George W. and Laura, do you? To be a fly on the wall when a new President is elected and the Secret Service is having these sorts of discussions.
Yeah. It must change from president to president. I agree that the Secret Service is probably got an easier job now that George W. is in office, he seems, how can I put this, less likely to be involved in things that Clinton got up to, although I still highly respect Clinton as a President. He’s a very good politician, his work to end the hostilities in Northern Ireland was top notch and apparently he and Tony Blair are best mates.
I doubt that they sweep the residence for potential weapons because there is so much that could be used. For instance George W. currently has a bust of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill on loan from the British Government as Tony Blair heard that Churchill is one of George W’s inspirations and role models. I think that the Secret Service were probably nervous when the whole scandal with Clinton was in full swing but at the end of the day both Bill and Hilary are well educated responsible, reasonable people and I don’t think there would have been to much WWF style fighting going on.
In Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Ford Prefect is accosted by Hotblack Desiato’s bodyguard (who was guarding Hotblack’s body while he spent a year dead for tax reasons). The bodyguard stated that
I imagine the Prince Harry and the Bush girls’ bodyguards feel much the same way.
