Trump says Hunter and Ashley Biden will no longer have Secret Service protection
Donald Trump dropped a bit of a bombshell on the Biden family this week.
The president stated that he would look at the Secret Service protection of Hunter Biden, but when he made his final decision, it was more than Hunter that was stripped of protection.
Let’s Look into It
On Monday, Trump dropped the bombshell on the Biden family.
The 45th and 47th president of the United States announced, “I would say if there are 18 [Secret Service agents] with Hunter Biden, that will be something I look at this afternoon.”
I had stated at the time that I supported this, as there was simply no way family members of a president should have security on the taxpayer dime after the president leaves office.
It turns out, Trump did not need very long to make up his mind on this matter.
It’s Been Revoked
Traditionally, protection details are pulled when a president leaves office, but there are sometimes courtesy extensions. The only people who are usually given protection are the former president, his wife, and underage children.
Later that day, Trump announced, “Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection. Likewise, Ashley Biden who has 13 agents will be taken off the list.”
Ashley Biden was Joe Biden’s granddaughter, and while she was at the White House for a period, she has since gotten married, so I am not sure why she was still being protected at all. As an adult grandchild, she really was not entitled to protection (it is not uncommon for underage grandchildren to be extended protection).
Hunter Biden reportedly had a detail of nearly two dozen agents, which is ridiculous even if Joe Biden was in office. To me, they should give them a month to get their own team in place, and then they cut the ties.
Who is Entitled to Protection
The media will call Trump a horrible person for this, but he is very much within his rights to cancel these details unless a previous agreement had been reached to offer protection beyond when Biden left office.
All former presidents retain Secret Service protection after leaving office until they die, and I have no problem with that, although I believe the details should be scaled down significantly. There is no need for an entourage, and outside of about six agents, I think they should be responsible for their own security.
All immediate members of a sitting president are entitled to protection, and this is the right thing to do. Above all else, this is a national security issue so family members cannot be kidnapped and used as leverage against the sitting president.
As far as the children or a former president go, only those 16 and under are technically entitled to protection after a president leaves office, but again, it should not be some ridiculously large detail. So, Hunter, that is why Daddy is keeping his mouth shut because he knows you were no longer entitled to protection.
