FNC: D.C. Tea Party Blocked by Secret Service

It’s April 15 … tea party protest day for hundreds of thousands of people across the country.

In Washington, D.C. two protests were planned – one in front of the Treasury Department and another in Lafayette Park across from the White House. But according to FOX News’ Griff Jenkins, the Secret Service blocked one of those planned events from happening.

“They have a permit, the organizers claim, with the Metropolitan police department but the Secret Service said, ‘No. You’re not setting up a stage and speakers here.’ So, Treasury not happening,” Jenkins reported the morning of April 15 during “America’s Newsroom.”

Fox News Channel reported from the Washington, D.C. Tax Day Tea Party.

“Now here in Lafayette Park they are gonna have the protest, a litany of speakers airing their grievances. You can see the stage they’re setting up over here. They’re expecting a few hundred, perhaps more folks.”

Maybe the Secret Service was spooked by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The Department of Homeland Security sent a nine page report to law enforcement officials on April 7 about a rise in “rightwing extremist activity [1],” according to the April 14 Washington Times.

According to the Times, “A footnote attached to the report by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines ‘rightwing extremism in the United States’ as including not just racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority” and "It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”

One tea party participant, conservative writer and blogger Michelle Malkin responded to the DHS report on her Web site [2] under the title “The Obama DHS hit job on conservatives is real.”

Malkin said at first “I couldn’t believe it was real,” but that the DHS spokespeople confirmed that the document was legitimate. She did not think the timing of the release was a coincidence.

“In Obama land, there are no coincidences. It is no coincidence that this report echoes Tea Party-bashing left-wing blogs (check this one out comparing the Tea Party movement to the Weather Underground! [3]) and demonizes the very Americans who will be protesting in the thousands on Wednesday for the nationwide Tax Day Tea Party,” Malkin wrote.