WASHINGTON - The US homeland security chief hit back at misogynistic attacks on the women Secret Service agents who threw themselves into the line of fire to protect Donald Trump from a would-be assassin.
"These assertions are baseless and insulting," Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement after some on the US political right accused the Secret Service of "woke" hiring practices they say nearly had the former president killed.
Mayorkas praised the "highly skilled and trained" women serving in law enforcement across the country for risking "their lives on the front lines for the safety and security of others."
"They are brave and selfless patriots who deserve our gratitude and respect," he wrote.
The Department of Homeland Security will "with great pride... continue to recruit, retain and elevate women in our law enforcement ranks," he continued.
It has been one week since a gunman opened fire during a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, killing one bystander, wounding two others and leaving the Republican bloodied but alive.
Several women were seen among the Secret Service agents racing to shield Trump with their bodies as the gunshots ring out.
But they, along with their boss Kimberly Cheatle -- only the second woman director of the federal agency tasked with protecting presidents current, former and would-be -- are now caught in the intense scrutiny over the nearly catastrophic attack.
"There should not be any women in the Secret Service. These are supposed to be the very best, and none of the very best at this job are women," right-wing activist Matt Walsh wrote on X, in one typical far-right post.
Many of the attacks cited DEI -- diversity, equity and inclusivity -- hiring practices that some Republicans have long criticized as discriminating against white people, white men in particular.
"The results of DEI. DEI got someone killed," read one post on the popular Libs of TikTok account.
The Secret Service has defended itself against such accusations in the past, with a spokesman telling US media just weeks before the assassination attempt that agents "are held to the highest professional standards... at no time has the agency lowered these standards."
Cheatle, who has so far shrugged off calls to resign, is to appear before Congress on July 22 for a hearing on the assassination attempt.
The Secret Service has also agreed to an independent review ordered by President Joe Biden.
Not everyone on the right supported the criticisms.
"I saw two women -- one of them with a gun in her hand and the other with her body around him," top Trump adviser Chris LaCivita told CNN reporter Kate Sullivan, she said in a post on X.
She said he continued: "I know this -- a swarm of Secret Service agents put their lives on the line and put their bodies in between President Trump and the bullets, and anybody who's said anything different about those people on the stage is an idiot."