Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Barely six months before the November Presidential elections, this incident throws a spotlight on America’s superpower-dom and the hollowness of its ‘superior’ security and defense apparatus, at a time its incumbent President Joe Biden 81, is trying to retain the White House against the efforts of his predecessor, Donald Trump, 78, who is taking another shot at the high job.
A member of the US Secret Service, no less, was robbed at gunpoint during President Joe Biden’s trip to California over the weekend, the media reported on Monday.
Biden was in Los Angeles for a campaign fundraiser after returning from the G7 meeting in Italy. It was not immediately clear whether the Secret Service agent’s work assignment was connected to the President’s visit.
The spy was returning from work at the time of the robbery Saturday night and fired a service weapon during the confrontation, but it wasn’t known if the assailants were struck, according to a statement by the Secret Service. The agent wasn’t injured, the statement said.
The altercation occurred around 9:36 pm local time at the Tustin Fields residential community in Orange County. The suspect or suspects weren’t located, but a 2004-2006 silver Infiniti FX35 or a similar vehicle was seen leaving the scene, Tustin police said.
Police found some of the agent’s belongings in the area, police said.
The robbery remains under investigation.
President Biden’s motorcade returned to his hotel 8:53 pm local time after a swift but uneventful drive through nighttime Los Angeles.
Secret Service agents are assigned to protect a variety of people besides the President, including past presidents, their spouses and young children, and other dignitaries. The Secret Service did not specify where the agent had been working that day.