Jesus’s General tracked down the audio of the NPR reporter being protected from what the anchor jokingly referred to as “The Michael Moore Threat”. I’ve created an mp3 pf the remarks that you can download here . Here’s part of a rushed transcript of the exchange from JC’s site :

Seabrook: Yes, I am in the middle of a…you might be able to hear the Secret Service yelling into my mic at the same time. There, there are a bunch of Secret Service that have surrounded Michael Moore’s section. There are three or four reporters with him right now, but they are trying to kick all of the reporters and press photographers who are around him out of his area. The convention staff is also here. They’re standing here telling us that we have to move from this are…they’re obviously disturbed by the fact that Michael Moore is here and want as little public here as possible.

Stachio: Can we hear? Can we hear what’s going on? Can you stick a mic in there? I don’t know if we can hear.

Seabrook: Yeah…ah…eh…they’ve sort of moved me away from that area.

Stachio: I don’t understand. Who is it? Is it Secret Service?

Seabrook: It’s Secret Service which is interesting because the Secret Service of all agencies is the one that remains…is the least involved in the sort of political…political kinds of things, but of course they always cover the candidates and they have to be involved in the convention like this. They claim that what they’re doing is for safety reasons, although there is a almost nobody around Michael Moore right now.

And in case you’re wondering…yes, this is illegal :

Hatch Act for Federal Employees

The Hatch Act restricts the political activity of executive branch employees of the federal government, District of Columbia government and some state and local employees who work in connection with federally funded programs. In 1993, Congress passed legislation that significantly amended the Hatch Act as it applies to federal and D.C. employees. (These amendments did not change the provisions that apply to state and local employees.) Under the amendments most federal and D.C. employees are now permitted to take an active part in political management and political campaigns. A small group of federal employees are subject to greater restrictions and continue to be prohibited from engaging in partisan political management and partisan political campaigns.

The Secret Service is one of the “small group of federal employees” that is explicitly forbidden from engaging in partisan political activity.