Last week, the mainstream media shamelessly gushed over Joe Biden’s trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, like it was a historic moment rather than a colossal blunder that he flew halfway around the world as the people of East Palestine, Ohio, were still suffering.
There had been extensive planning for Biden’s “secret” trip, so naturally, the White House was going to carefully produce the entire event to make the most of the publicity stunt. And they may have taken things a bit too far. According to reports, Biden bravely walked the streets of Kyiv, even as an air raid siren sounded. The New York Times hailed it as “a dramatic moment that underscored the investment the United States has made in Ukraine’s independence.” Other outlets similarly referenced the air raid siren as part of the narrative of just how brave Joe Biden was.
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But the legitimacy of the air raid siren was called into question after CNN’s Alex Marquardt, who’d been on the ground in Kyiv for nearly a week, revealed that he hadn’t heard the air siren go off until after Joe Biden left town. Fact-checkers immediately pounced, claiming that air raids have been a regular occurrence in Kyiv, and that the air raid had been prompted by a Russian MiG fighter taking off in Belarus, which borders Ukraine in the north.
This story doesn’t quite pass the smell test, according to former Secret Service agents Jeff James and Dan Bongino, because a real threat would have prompted action by the Secret Service.
“On warzone trips — you’ve done some as well — if there was an air raid siren, meaning there’s an air threat coming in that could potentially kill the president of the United States, the standard Secret Service response would be to evacuate. Yet nothing happened. Why do you think that is?” Bongino asked James on Fox News.
“I have no idea,” James replied. “It’s a little bit baffling. I know the men and women… of the secret service are going to do everything they can to keep the president alive. Hopefully, it was something that was false and maybe even pre-staged for the press’s benefit. Because I know the men and women [of] the Secret Service aren’t going to stand there and tolerate the possibility of a true air raid when they’re standing beside the president.”
“I find this personally offensive, as I’m sure you do, as well,” Bongino responded. “There isn’t a chance in hell that the guys you and I worked with would listen to an air siren and sit on their ass and watch it while the President’s life was at stake.”
“Right,” James agreed.
“Now, like you, I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t there. I wasn’t on the trip. But I only see two scenarios. Either scenario one: the Secret Service sat back and did nothing — which I find absolutely impossible — or scenario two: this was staged to make the president look like a hero.”
Bongino also suggested that the air raid siren wasn’t necessary because Biden was already going into a warzone and didn’t need to embellish: “You don’t need to put an air siren out there, make everybody look like idiots for standing by.”
According to James, had it been a legitimate air siren, Biden would not have had a choice in how the Secret Service would have responded.
“We don’t give the people we protect the choice,” he explained. “When there is imminent danger, we go. They don’t get to say anything. The White House staff isn’t going to say anything. Even if it’s a foreign head of state, their staff doesn’t get to say anything. If there is an imminent threat, we are not hanging around to talk about it. Period.”
Former @SecretService agents Jeff James & @dbongino: Secret Service would have evacuated Biden if the Kiev air raid siren were real pic.twitter.com/TYIOCqSoPp
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 26, 2023
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