Four Secret Service officials have been suspended after they were allegedly duped by two men who were accused of posing as officers and employees of the federal government.
Investigators allege that Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, who have each been charged with false impersonation of a federal officer, obtained paraphernalia, handguns and assault rifles used by federal law enforcement agencies. Then, according to the FBI, they allegedly used their fake associations with the U.S. government to cozy up to U.S. Secret Service officials with gifts and favors.
Two of the four suspended Secret Service officials are agents, and two are uniformed division officers. An FBI affidavit released Wednesday listed three of them as witnesses who have been interviewed extensively by the bureau.
One of the agents was on the Secret Service detail for first lady Jill Biden. Another is a uniformed division officer at the White House. The third is detailed as a uniformed division officer at Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory. And a fourth was assigned to the presidential protection detail — that is, this officer is one of the federal agents charged with protecting the safety of the sitting president, first family and vice president.
The fourth officer is not a part of the ongoing investigation of the USSS, however, because this individual does not have information that’s pertinent to the probe, but allegedly interacted with the suspects.
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