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DENVER — The Secret Service Wednesday confirmed that an investigation was continuing into the removal of three people from one of President Bush’s town hall meetings on social security, the same day the group said they were questioned by Secret Service agents.
The three were questioned for about an hour by two agents who said they were with the service’s internal affairs department conducting a criminal investigation, said David Miller, one of the attorneys representing the group.
Miller said the questioning was part of an investigation into whether a man dressed in a dark suit and wearing an earpiece criminally impersonated a Secret Service agent when he escorted the three Denver residents out of the March 21 event.
“They were friendly, they weren’t hostile. It was very cordial,” Leslie Weise, one of the three removed from the event at Wings Over the Rockies Museum, said of the interview.
Secret Service spokeswoman Lorie Lewis confirmed there is an ongoing investigation but declined to elaborate. The Secret Service has said an investigation determined the man was not one of its agents but a staff member with the host committee.
The agency, which is responsible for protecting the president, previously refused to confirm a second investigation was underway.
The White House has said the man was a volunteer who probably feared the three might have disrupted Bush’s event.
Karen Bauer, Alex Young and Weise acknowledge they wore T-shirts under their clothing that read, “Stop the Lies,” but did not plan to reveal them at the event. The three said the T-shirt wasn’t mentioned but they were told the next day they were singled out because they were with the “No blood for oil” group. They do not belong to such a group but arrived at the event in a car with a a bumper sticker that read, “No more blood for oil.”
Weise, Young, and Bauer said the man did not identify himself as being with the Secret Service, but others at the event referred to the man as an agent.
Miller, a former legal director for the Colorado American Civil Liberties Union, refused to reveal details of the questioning but said he hoped the Secret Service also would investigate the people and circumstances that allowed the man to operate freely at a Bush event.
“They did find it interesting, the coordination of the different people involved and acting in concert with this mystery man,” Weise said. “They did ask a lot questions as they wanted to learn more about it.”
“The biggest thing is they are connecting the fact that this guy was not operating alone,” Young said.
Members of Colorado’s congressional delegation from both parties have raised concerns about the case.
The group said they are interested in suing the man, but they do not know his name.
The three were questioned for about an hour by two agents who said they were with the service’s internal affairs department conducting a criminal investigation, said David Miller, one of the attorneys representing the group.
Miller said the questioning was part of an investigation into whether a man dressed in a dark suit and wearing an earpiece criminally impersonated a Secret Service agent when he escorted the three Denver residents out of the March 21 event.
“They were friendly, they weren’t hostile. It was very cordial,” Leslie Weise, one of the three removed from the event at Wings Over the Rockies Museum, said of the interview.
Secret Service spokeswoman Lorie Lewis confirmed there is an ongoing investigation but declined to elaborate. The Secret Service has said an investigation determined the man was not one of its agents but a staff member with the host committee.
The agency, which is responsible for protecting the president, previously refused to confirm a second investigation was underway.
The White House has said the man was a volunteer who probably feared the three might have disrupted Bush’s event.
Karen Bauer, Alex Young and Weise acknowledge they wore T-shirts under their clothing that read, “Stop the Lies,” but did not plan to reveal them at the event. The three said the T-shirt wasn’t mentioned but they were told the next day they were singled out because they were with the “No blood for oil” group. They do not belong to such a group but arrived at the event in a car with a a bumper sticker that read, “No more blood for oil.”
Weise, Young, and Bauer said the man did not identify himself as being with the Secret Service, but others at the event referred to the man as an agent.
Miller, a former legal director for the Colorado American Civil Liberties Union, refused to reveal details of the questioning but said he hoped the Secret Service also would investigate the people and circumstances that allowed the man to operate freely at a Bush event.
“They did find it interesting, the coordination of the different people involved and acting in concert with this mystery man,” Weise said. “They did ask a lot questions as they wanted to learn more about it.”
“The biggest thing is they are connecting the fact that this guy was not operating alone,” Young said.
Members of Colorado’s congressional delegation from both parties have raised concerns about the case.
The group said they are interested in suing the man, but they do not know his name.
