Source: Business Insider
Secret Service agents reportedly invaded a Massachusetts hair salon without permission, violated the business owner’s privacy, and taped over security cameras while securing the area for Kamala Harris’s recent fundraiser.
On July 27, the Four One Three Salon in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was forcefully entered by Secret Service agents ahead of Kamala Harris’s first in-person fundraiser since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee, the Business Insider first reported.
The salon’s owner, Alicia Powers, had already complied with the Secret Service’s requests by closing her business for the day to accommodate the security needs of the event, which was being held at the nearby Colonial Theatre.
“They had a bunch of people in and out of here doing a couple of bomb sweeps again — totally understand what they have to do, due to the nature of the situation,” Powers told Business Insider. “And at that point, my team felt like it was a little bit chaotic, and we just made the decision to close for Saturday.”
However, what transpired next left Powers feeling violated and betrayed. According to Powers, Secret Service agents took it upon themselves to enter her locked salon, use her bathroom, and tamper with her security cameras—all without her consent.
Security footage obtained by Business Insider showed a female Secret Service agent taping over the lens of a Ring security camera located at the salon’s entrance.
The agents then proceeded to break into the salon, triggering the security alarm and using the facilities for nearly two hours before leaving the building completely unsecured.
WATCH:
As Powers explained, multiple people—including emergency medical personnel and law enforcement— were inside to use the bathroom without permission.
“There were several people in and out for about an hour-and-a-half — just using my bathroom, the alarms going off, using my counter, with no permission,” Powers said.
“And then when they were done using the bathroom for two hours, they left, and left my building completely unlocked, and did not take the tape off the camera,” she added.
Powers informed BI that an EMS worker later revealed the Secret Service agent in charge of security that day “was inviting people to come in and use the bathroom.”
“Whoever was visiting, whether it was a celebrity or not, I probably would’ve opened the door and made them coffee and brought in donuts to make it a great afternoon for them. But they didn’t even have the audacity to ask for permission. They just helped themselves,” Powell said.
Brian Smith, the building’s landlord, echoed Powers’s sentiments, stating that neither he nor his father had given permission for the Secret Service to enter their property, adding, “they had no permission to go in there whatsoever.”
Powers, who was not present at the time, only discovered the full extent of the intrusion when she reviewed the security footage.
To her dismay, the Secret Service agents had not only violated her property but had also left it vulnerable by failing to relock the door or remove the tape from the security camera.
Despite multiple attempts to address the situation with local law enforcement and the Secret Service, Powers was initially met with indifference.
The Pittsfield Police, who were supposed to be coordinating with the Secret Service, claimed they had no knowledge of the incident. It was only after Business Insider contacted the Secret Service for comment that the agency acknowledged the wrongdoing and issued a belated apology.
The agency’s response was weak at best. After being called out for their actions, they offered an apology and promised to cover the costs incurred by Powers due to their intrusion.
Business Insider reported:
A Secret Service spokesperson told Business Insider that the agency’s employees “would not enter” without the permission of the business owner, but acknowledged an agent taped over the security camera lens.
[…]
BI asked Secret Service spokesperson Melissa McKenzie whether the agency invited other people to use the bathroom. She told BI that agency employees “would not” tell someone to enter the salon without the owner’s permission.
[…]
The day after BI initially reached out to the Secret Service for comment for this story — more than a week after it entered the business — an agency spokesperson said it had “since communicated” with Powers.
“The U.S. Secret Service works closely with our partners in the business community to carry out our protective and investigative missions,” McKenzie wrote in an email to BI. “The Secret Service has since communicated with the affected business owner.”
“We hold these relationships in the highest regard and our personnel would not enter, or instruct our partners to enter, a business without the owner’s permission,” she added.
Bill Pickle, a former Secret Service special agent, who previously oversaw training for the agency, told Business Insider that it’s conceivable why a member of the Secret Service would tape over the security camera lens.
Pickle speculated that someone from the agency’s technical services division — which handles explosives, bugging, wiring, and other physical security risks — may have wanted to limit visibility of Harris’s whereabouts if the vice president were to walk into the camera’s view.
You can read the rest of the story here.
In the wake of a recent Secret Service incident, online users are erupting in outrage.
“Our government at work! They don’t need your permission! They can do what they want! Our government is the threat to our freedoms and rights!Will anyone be held responsible? NO…” one user wrote.
Screenshot
Another user wrote, “This is really frustrating. All of the agencies that used to do good are now just a bunch of Democrat henchmen.”
Screenshot
Another wrote, “Anyone else getting Nazi vibes from the current situation and this time it isn’t Republicans being blamed?”
“First, the Secret Service is behind the plot to assassinate President Trump, and now they are attacking American businesses. It’s time to clean out the Marxist administration,” another user said.
Another wrote, “Well, get ready if Harris is elected. there will be pot parties at the [White House] with rappers stripping and twerking. You think they care about your personal property!!! Harris will encourage the burning and destruction, and Walz will sit back and watch it burn as his wife sniffs the fumes. it’s like a joke.”
The post BREAKING: U.S. Secret Service Breaks into Massachusetts Hair Salon and Tapes Over Security Camera to Let People Use the Bathroom During Kamala Harris Fundraiser appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.