Ingraham blames gender equality for White House breach: Secret Service 'brought in a woman'

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday argued that a recent security breach at the White House had happened because the Secret Service had placed a woman on duty instead of "a really strong person."

CBS News reported on Tuesday that a man who jumped the White House fence made it all the way into the East Room after overpowering a female Secret Service agent.

Speaking to Fox News and on her radio show on Tuesday, Ingraham asserted that officials had hired a female Secret Service director and female agents because of "political correctness."

"They brought in a woman, first female director -- remember the Obama administration loves firsts," Ingraham said on her radio show, according to a transcript provided by Media Matters. "You get the sense at some point that it's the first that's more important than the common sense."

"What works -- let's do what works best, ok?" she continued. "Is it to have a woman there or is it just to have a really strong person there? A big, hulking person. Female, male, I don't care."

"They want to be historic. They want it to be an historic appointment, instead of thinking, 'gee, maybe we just need the best people.'"

During an interview on Fox & Friends earlier in the morning, Ingraham acknowledged that some female agents could be "really strong and large," but she speculated that gender had been more important in the hiring process than who was the best person for the job.

"I mean, you do get the sense at some point that political correctness could have been a factor here, right?" she said. "Because the new female director, who's going to be questioned today, Julia Pierson, came in after that Colombia prostitute scandal with the Secret Service... She was a proud career civil servant -- 30 years with the Secret Service. But you do get the sense that with this administration that all these decisions about who gets what position and where they're stationed -- political correctness comes into the decision-making, and this is no place for political correctness."

"The strongest, biggest, best people have to be at the front of the White House always," the radio host concluded.

Watch the video below from Fox News' Fox & Friends, broadcast Sept. 30, 2014.