Secret Service agent who protected first lady Jill Biden is witness

One of two men criminally charged with impersonating federal law enforcement agents in Washington, D.C., offered to give an assault rifle worth $2,000 to a U.S. Secret Service agent who was assigned to the protective detail of first lady Jill Biden, a court filing says.

That filing also says the wife of the Secret Service agent, who was not identified by name, was loaned what was purported to be a “government vehicle” by accused imposter Arian Taherzadeh, who “also provided her with a generator.”

The Secret Service agent lived in an apartment on the floor of a Washington apartment building below Taherzadeh, according to the filing, which was written by an FBI agent in support of the criminal complaint against Taherzadeh, 40, and his 35-year-old co-defendant, Haider Ali.

Taherzadeh also allegedly gave members of the Secret Service and an employee of the Department of Homeland Security “rent-free apartments (with a total yearly rent of over $40,000 per apartment,), iPhones, surveillance systems, a drone, a flat screen television, a case for storing an assault rifle, a generator and law enforcement paraphernalia,” the filing says.

One of those agents was assigned to protect the White House as part of the Secret Service’s uniformed division, the filing said.

That agent lived rent-free in a three-bedroom apartment at the same complex provided by Taherzadeh, according to the filing, which said the residence normally would rent for more than $48,000 annually.

Taherzadeh told the agent that a division of DHS “had approved extra rooms as part of his operations, and that [agent] could live in one of them for free,” the filing said. “The investigation confirmed that there are no such [DHS] operations and that it authorized no such expense.”

Taherzadeh and Ali, were arrested Wednesday during a raid on that building in the Southeast section of D.C. on a charge of “false impersonation of a federal officer.” Both men are due to appear in federal court in Washington later Thursday.

Four members of the Secret Service have been placed on administrative leave pending further investigation in the case.

In a statement Thursday, the Secret Service said it “has worked, and continues to work, with its law enforcement partners on this ongoing investigation.”

“All personnel involved in this matter are on administrative leave and are restricted from accessing Secret Service facilities, equipment, and systems,” the agency said. “The Secret Service adheres to the highest levels of professional standards and conduct and will remain in active coordination with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.” 

The FBI said in an affidavit that both men, from as early as February 2020 until their arrest, pretended to be agents working for the Department of Homeland Security, with the use of insignias and firearms used by federal…