Secret Service searches college journalist’s apartment

CALIFORNIA–Two Secret Service agents searched the apartment of a student journalist in late November after he called on his Berkeley classmates to celebrate on Stanford freshman Chelsea Clinton’s “bloodied carcass” during the annual football game against Stanford.

Guy Branum, a columnist with the Daily Californian at the University of California-Berkeley, said he openly ran a tape recorder as agents searched his one-bedroom, off-campus apartment.

According to the Knight-Ridder news service, Branum quoted an agent from the cassette as saying, “I want to make sure you don’t have any weapons or any of the stuff that you see on TV that actually happens in apartments, like a big picture of Chelsea with a big X in blood on it.”

Branum told The Associated Press that “They wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything that would demonstrate mental instability on my part.”

Branum said the agents also inquired about a previous column he had written that referred to President Clinton as the “Sexual Predator in-Chief.” Although the University of California’s police department confirms helping the Secret Service set up the visit, the Secret Service would not confirm Branum’s account or comment on the incident, the AP reported.

Branum, who said his column was intended to boost support for the school’s annual football game against Stanford University, wrote: “Show your spirit on Chelsea’s bloodied carcass, because as the Stanford Daily lets us know, she is JUST ANOTHER STUDENT.

“She embodies the Stanford ethos of establishment worship that must be subverted and destroyed. … Is hate a strong word? Yes. Is it applicable? Certainly.”

Branum said he gave the agents permission to search his apartment after they threatened to hold him while getting a search warrant if he did not consent, the AP reported.

The AP also reported that after the search, the agents instructed Branum to stay at home for the rest of the day except to attend scheduled classes, and had him sign a release giving them access to his medical records.