Nearly 900 Secret Service members contracted COVID-19 throughout the pandemic

Nearly 900 Secret Service members tested positive for COVID-19 over the past year throughout the pandemic, according to a watchdog group report released Tuesday.

The group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which obtained the information through a Freedom of Information Act request, found 881 active Secret Service employees were diagnosed with the virus from March 1, 2020 through March 9, 2021.

The records obtained by CREW showed that 477 of those infected were special agents, 249 were members of the service's Uniformed Division, 131 were working in an administrative capacity, 12 were Investigative Protection officers and 12 were Technical Security investigators.

Privacy concerns for the employees prevented the watchdog group from obtaining the identities of the employees, their assignments and where or when they tested positive.

The group filed the FOIA request with the agency in October 2020 and argued that the Trump administration had put Secret Service members at risk with all of the travel and rallies being attended.

CREW said in the request that Trump "appeared to be deliberately putting the lives of Secret Service agents at risk in order to portray himself as tougher," according to The Hill.