It’s bad when a member of the media does this—it’s even worse when a member of the agency tasked with protecting the president of the United States and other high-profile targets behaves this way. Susan Crabtree at Real Clear Politics posted a disturbing story on Twitter, claiming that a Secret Service agent pretty much said that Charlie Kirk deserved to die. Kirk, one of the most influential activists in the country, was assassinated at Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday. He was 31.
The agent, Anthony Pough, posted to his Facebook page, writing, “You can't circumvent karma, she doesn’t leave.”
🚨🚨EXCLUSIVE and #BREAKING: This is a current Secret Service agent, stating in a Facebook post, that Charlie Kirk deserved what he got.
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) September 11, 2025
"You can't circumvent karma, [sic] she doesnt [sic] leave."
The comments are similar to the incendiary remarks now former @MSNBC… pic.twitter.com/XMdTcPHP7k
The comments are similar to the incendiary remarks now former MSNBC contributor Matthew Dowd made on the network. The network fired Dowd from his contributorship yesterday for saying "hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions."
MSNBC called Dowd's comments "insensitive and unacceptable" and ultimately fired him.
The Secret Service agent's post is circulating in the Secret Service community with some agents upset over his sentiments because he appears to be celebrating the death of a political figure, and one whom the president is honoring with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and has often had by his side at events over the last several years.
Trump and others also credit Kirk with Trump's victory at the polls through the work he did rallying young people on college campuses and getting them out to vote.
What about other MAGA figures who often appear with Trump -- would the agent's political views prevent him from protecting Trump effectively or anyone who may be targeted while appearing with Trump or another administration official?
"If that's all it takes to set you off, that's dangerous to have around," one source in the Secret Service community told Real Clear Politics about the agent's Facebook post on Kirk's death.
"I'm mostly concerned about the morals of a person sworn to protect the rights of others to engage in politics and exercise free speech, celebrating the death of someone exercising those same rights," the source added.
Several of the agent's Facebook posts negatively comment on Trump, his administration, and its policies, but nothing that I've reviewed is as pointed and offensive as this agent's post about Kirk's death.
I'm told this agent, who is in Phase 2 of his career, is not on a detail that would be regularly charged with protecting Trump. Yet, all agents, at times, are called off their official details/duties to contribute to presidential coverage of some kind or another.
In 2017, I reported on a now-retired senior agent named Kerry O'Grady who suggested in a Facebook post just weeks before the 2016 election that she wouldn't take a bullet for Trump. The Secret Service placed O'Grady, then the boss of the Denver Field Office, on paid administrative for nearly two years to allow her to hit her retirement date. She left the agency in 2019 with full pension benefits.
In the Wednesday Facebook post, the Secret Service agent, Anthony Pough, justifies his "karma" comments by making a blanket statement that "Charlie Kirk spews hate and racism on his show and adding the words: "Charlie Kirk says black women do not have the brain processing power."
It's an undeniably controversial subject matter, but the broad statement Pough referred to didn't include the full context.
These are Kirk's full comments in July 2023 after the Supreme Court declared affirmative action programs at public and private colleges and universities are unconstitutional.
Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Kentanji Jackson ― an MSNBC host, former first lady, U.S. representative, and Supreme Court justice, respectively — had all expressed strong disagreement with the ruling.
Kirk:
"You really have to wonder. In fact, you know, if we would have said three weeks ago, Blake, if we would have said that Joy Reid and Michelle Obama and the late Rep. Sheila Jackson, Lee and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative action picks, we would have been racist, but now they're coming out, and they're saying it for us."
"They're coming out and they're saying, 'I'm only here because [of] affirmative action.'"
He then played footage of Jackson Lee, stating that she was a "clear recipient of affirmative actions, and particularly in higher education," but insisting that she graduated on her own merits.
Kirk then added this response, appearing to refer to Jackson Lee, who had just spoken in the clip he shared with his audience:
"Yeah, we know you do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person's slot to go be taken somewhat seriously."
“It’s very obvious to us that you were not smart enough to be able to get in on your own,” he added.
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Pough is now on administrative leave.
STORY UPDATE: A knowledgeable Secret Service source tells me this USSS agent who said in a Facebook post that Charlie Kirk deserved to be murdered because of “karma” has been placed on administrative leave. https://t.co/ZZuYZDMgBN
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) September 11, 2025
UPDATE: Secret Service has issued a statement:
The U.S. Secret Service will not tolerate any behavior, which violates our code of conduct. We are aware of the employee's social media post from today, and the individual has been placed on administrative leave as we investigate the matter.
Here's the full official statement from a UlS. Secret Service spokesperson:
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) September 11, 2025
"The U.S. Secret Service will not tolerate any behavior, which violates our code of conduct. We are aware of the employee's social media post from today, and the individual has been placed on… https://t.co/F3ehrvbTt1
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