Former Obama Secret Service Agent Running For Senate in Maryland

By Marc Ambinder  //  May 31, 2011 | 1:06 p.m.
Updated: May 31, 2011 | 1:27 p.m.

Daniel Bongino, a former U.S. Secret Service agent whose recent assignments included a posting to President Obama's protective detail, has decided to run for the Senate in Maryland as a Republican.

At an agency that stresses the silence and political neutrality of its agents, Bongono's announcement is raising eyebrows. It's not unusual for federal law enforcement agents to run for office after they retire, but the Secret Service, which has fought to give presidential protective division agents legal standing to keep agents from testifying about high-level conversations they overhear lest they lose the trust of the commander in chief, frowns upon former agents who make sudden turns to politics.

Bongino is seeking the Republican nomination to take on freshman Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md. Bongino's Twitter account calls him a "Conservative Republican Candidate for the U.S. Senate" and directs visitors to a campaign website that is off-line.

His campaign chair will be Daniel Murphy, who unsuccessfully sought Maryland's Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2010 despite being endorsed by the Tea Party and Sarah Palin.

Read the complete story on NationalJournal.com.


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