University Newspaper Columnist Investigated After Ripping Chelsea Clinton

Secret Service agents searched the apartment of a University of California student newspaper columnist who wrote a satirical attack on Chelsea Clinton, the writer says.

Guy Branum, a columnist for the Daily Californian, said agents searched his off-campus apartment Monday, the same day Chelsea Clinton’s mother, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, visited the university for a meeting on foster care. Chelsea Clinton is a freshman at nearby Stanford University.

Secret Service spokesman Arnette Heintz declined to comment on the investigation. But he said agents are required by law to look into every case such as this one “to make a determination whether there is reason for concern and whether we need to take any additional steps.”

The agents checked for weapons, Branum said Tuesday. They also had him sign a release giving them access to his medical records, he said.

“They wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything that would demonstrate mental instability on my part,” he said. “No pictures of Chelsea with X’s through them or something like that.”

He said he gave two agents permission for the search after they threatened to detain him while getting a search warrant if he didn’t.

Branum said his column, which appeared Thursday, was meant to be satirical and was intended to rally spirit before the Cal-Stanford football game.

In the column, Branum revealed which dormitory Chelsea lives in and wrote: “Show your spirit on Chelsea’s bloodied carcass because, as the Stanford Daily (newspaper) lets us know, she is JUST ANOTHER STUDENT.”

The newspaper apologized Friday for undermining a “student’s physical safety” and its own reputation.