Might have been covered before, but I have to ask anyways. Back in the day when I enrolled in American History, and I was dozing off, I remember the teacher asking a hypothetical question that went something like: Does the secret service intervene in cases of presidential marital spats? Can’t remember what was said afterwards, but he was obviously alluding to the Bill-Hillary-Monica scandal. If Hillary went berserk when she first found out about it and did get physically violent, what do the bodyguards do? What if she managed to get her hands on a deadly weapon? Lot’s of conjecture, but I’d really like to know…
I think that question was actually asked about several weeks ago, so If I remember correctly , the president would be protected from physical injury from the first lady , but other wise they stay out of it.
Declan
I agree. The USSS’s duty under Federal law is to protect the President from being harmed or killed by anybody, including his spouse (even if justified :)). The Secret Service tries to be discreet and not intrude into the First Family’s private lives any more than necessary. From what I’ve read, agents stay just down the hall when the President and family are in the private quarters of the White House, for instance. But they would immediately intervene if the President was attacked by the First Lady or anyone else.
A few years ago, Christopher Buckley wrote “No Way to Treat a First Lady,” a comic novel about a cheated-upon First Lady who kills her no-goodnik husband. Haven’t read it myself, but I’ve heard it’s good. No idea what role the Secret Service plays, if any.
That’s the critical point. The First Lady could bash the President over the head with a fireplace poker and they wouldn’t be able to prevent it. They’re not there. So unless the Secret Service has video survelliance in the Residence the First Lady could easily kill the Pres.
And if they’re having an argument, especially if one of the two is prone to throwing or smashing things, how is the Secret Service agent who isn’t even in the room supposed to know if it evolves into an attack?
The more interesting point to me is “Is there video survelliance in the Residence?”
In one of the many books I’ve read about the House of Windsor it was mentioned that there were cameras monitored by the Royal Protection Service in the family rooms and hallways, but not the bedrooms and bathrooms. (I believe this was at Highgrove.)
But doesn’t the First Lady have her own detail tasked to her protection? Could a first class tussle between the POTUS and FLOTUS erupt into intra-agency warfare?
We would never know, because it would be a secret!
And what if a stray bullet hit Chelsea? Oh, the humanity!