While most of the allegations contained in Kessler’s book relate to the personal lives of the high-profile individuals whom the Secret Service protects, there is also criticism of the Secret Service itself.
Kessler said that the president’s life has been put at risk by what his anonymous sources tell him are serious security shortfalls within the agency. “Agents tell me that it's a miracle there has not been an assassination, given all this corner-cutting,” Kessler said.
“[An] example in the book is that, when Bradley Cooper went to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, a high-ranking Secret Service official told the detail at the Washington Hilton, 'Just let him in with his SUV' – in this secure area where only Secret Service cars are allowed, and even they have to be screened for explosives. He was not screened; someone could have put explosives in.”
But the Secret Service is firing back at Kessler’s claims, with spokesman Ed Donovan calling the book “intellectually lazy and riddled with inaccuracies.”
“We currently dedicate more personnel, funding and technical assets to our protective mission than at any time in our history and our protective measures and methods continue to increase in scope and complexity, not diminish,” Donovan said in a written statement. “Comments attributed to our personnel, current or former, regarding their personal perceptions of Secret Service protectees, are just that – their personal perceptions – and should not be discussed in any forum.”
The book’s accuracy has also been called into question by reviewers outside of the government.
Marc Ambinder, an editor at “This Week” news magazine, wrote a post admonishing Kessler’s book for “weird inaccuracies” that he says “should lead Kessler to question the judgment of some of his own sources.” Asked for a response to Ambinder’s negative review, Kessler rebutted that “every claim that he made was totally wrong.”
Neither the vice president’s office nor Hillary Clinton provided a comment when contacted by “Top Line.” However, the Clintons recently provided a joint-statement to POLITICO to address a slew of new books that are critical of Hillary Clinton.
“With Klein, Halper and [author Ronald] Kessler, we now have a hat trick of despicable actors concocting trashy nonsense for a quick buck, at the expense of anything even remotely resembling the truth,” a joint statement from spokesmen for Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton read, according to POLITICO.
For more of the interview with Kessler, and to hear what he hopes to achieve with this book, check out this episode of “Top Line.”