WASHINGTON — Two Secret Service agents suspected of driving under the influence and striking a White House security barricade disrupted an active bomb investigation and might have driven over the suspicious package itself, according to current and former government officials.
These and other new details about the March 4 incident emerged Thursday from interviews and police records obtained by The Washington Post.
The episode has prompted questions from lawmakers about whether the newly appointed leaders of the Secret Service are capable of turning around the troubled agency.
An investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general is centering on the possible misconduct of two senior agents, identified as Mark Connolly, the second-in-command on Obama’s detail, and George Ogilvie, a senior supervisor in the Washington field office.
The incident unfolded on a hectic night for Secret Service officers guarding the White House. About 10:25 p.m., a Pennsylvania woman hopped out of her blue Toyota near the southeast entrance of the White House, and, holding a package wrapped in a green shirt, approached an agent.
“I’m holding a (expletive) bomb,” she yelled, according to a government official with knowledge of the incident. The woman put the object on the ground and retreated to her car. After a struggle with an agent, the woman sped off. Police secured the area with tape and called an explosives team.
Shortly before 11 p.m., the two Secret Service agents, returning from a work party at a bar about eight blocks from the White House, drove their government car through the crime scene. According to people familiar with the incident, they drove through police tape and hit a temporary barricade, using the car to push aside some barrels.
Investigators who have reviewed a tape of the incident say the pair either drove very close to or over the suspicious item, one law enforcement official said.
At 11:45 p.m. the police explosives team determined the suspicious item was a book and was not a threat. Secret Service officers found the woman two days later. On Thursday, a government official said a warrant for her arrest had been issued.
