During a rally in Minnesota Saturday, former President Donald Trump defended a female Secret Service agent who helped protect him from an assassination attempt at an event in Pennsylvania.

Trump’s comments came as the Secret Service is still facing scrutiny over its failure to prevent Thomas Matthew Crooks from opening fire during the Pennsylvania rally on July 13^th. The female agents, in particular, have been targets for criticism.

Former President Trump leaped to the defense of a female Secret Service agent who "shielded" him during an assassination attempt, after she faced blistering online criticism.

"I don’t know how they didn’t get hit," Trump told thousands at a St. Cloud, Minnesota, rally on Saturday as he recalled how "bullets were flying" and the security detail had rushed to shield his body.

"Every one of them – there wasn’t one that was slow. A woman who was on my right, she was shielding me," he said. "Beautiful person – she was shielding me, everything she could. And she got crushed. And she got criticized by the fake news because she wasn’t tall enough."

Trump said that the unidentified female agent was "so brave" and "wanted to take a bullet" for the 45th president.

"Well, you know, she wasn’t tall enough. Because I’m tall, and she wasn’t tall enough. And she was criticized – she was so brave, she was shielding me with everything, she wanted to take a bullet, because the bullets were flying. Incredible."

Shortly after the footage of the shooting went viral on social media, several right-leaning commentators and social media users lashed out at the female agents who were present during the incident.

Conservative YouTuber Lauren Chen in a post on X argued that “Women have no place in the Secret Service.”

Women have no place in the Secret Service.

If it came down to it, a Secret Service agent should be able to physically subdue an attacker.

There's no way the female agents we've seen on video would be capable of that. https://t.co/RqFYHCifJ6

— Lauren Chen (@TheLaurenChen) July 14, 2024

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh said, “None of the very best at this job are women.”

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.

pic.twitter.com/LH3fa6FVhl

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) July 14, 2024

Libs of TikTok, similar to other prominent folks on the right, labeled one of the female agents a “DEI hire.”

Director of Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle said she’s aiming to make the Secret Service more diverse and hire more women.

This female agent couldn’t even holster her gun today during the attempted ass*ss*nat*on of Trump.

DEI hire?? pic.twitter.com/0tgBZqXstC

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 14, 2024

Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle recently resigned after a barrage of criticism in the aftermath of the assassination attempt and a disastrous Congressional hearing.

The agency’s failure has raised concerns among folks on the right about DEI practices in federal agencies, which many blame for the incident. Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service’s chief of communications, issued a statement defending its female agents. “We stand united against any attempt to discredit our personnel and their invaluable contributions to our mission and are appalled by the disparaging and disgusting comments against any of our personnel.”

He added: “It is an insult to the women of our agency to imply that they are unqualified based on gender. Such baseless assertions undermine the professionalism, dedication and expertise of our workforce.”