President Donald Trump said Monday he was ending “immediately” the Secret Service protection details assigned to Joe Biden’s adult children, which the former president had extended for six months shortly before leaving office in January.

The Republican president on social media objected to what he said were 18 agents assigned to Hunter Biden’s protective detail while in South Africa this week. He said Ashley Biden has 13 agents assigned to her detail and that she too “will be taken off the list.”

There was no immediate reaction from the former president’s office.

Former presidents and their spouses receive life-long Secret Service protection under federal law, but the protection afforded to their immediate families over the age of 16 ends when they leave office. But outgoing presidents can extend protection for those who might otherwise not be eligible for up to six months after they leave office, something Biden did for his children and Trump did for his family after leaving office in 2021. Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush also extended protection for their families for a period.

  • Ele7en7@lemmy.world
    133·
    19 hours ago

    So, 2 months versus 6 months means nothing. It’s totally normal for Trump to vindictively take away 66% of their protection? And, I said look up some dates because you originally said 3 months. Keep it up, my smugness intensifies.

    • rigatti@lemmy.worldEnglish
      211·
      19 hours ago

      You are right about one thing. I said 3 months because I can’t count. Inauguration is late January, so then until now is 2 months. I am horribly sorry not to have met your expectations, O Lord of Righteousness. Since you’re till having trouble understanding what I’m saying, it wasn’t 66% of their total protection. Assuming they were protected for the entirety of Biden’s term, Trump is taking away (since you love numbers so much) 7.4% (4 out of 54 [4 years is 48 months, plus the 6 month extension period] total months of their overall protection.

      • Ele7en7@lemmy.world
        33·
        19 hours ago

        This just keeps getting more entertaining. How exactly would Trump have taken away their protection before he was president? Their protection while Biden was president is not in any way related to this argument. Again, my only argument is that this is not normal as your first comment suggested, but by all means, keep trying to talk yourself into it being normal. Either way, I’m done here. Enjoy your down votes as I’m sure you will.

        • rigatti@lemmy.worldEnglish
          46·
          19 hours ago

          Hello, Elesevenenseven. You seem to have trouble understanding that them losing less than 10% of the total protection time means that they have almost the normal amount of protection time. I’m not saying that Trump would have taken away their protection before he was president. At this point, I’m not sure if your reading comprehension is actually that poor or if you’re just really desperate to keep up the nitpicky smug internet argument act.

          I agree that taking away the protection is not normal. I get that. Their protection ending is normal. It’s not like he ended what would normally be lifetime protection. I could have worded my original comment better, but I didn’t expect someone to get so invested in being an asshole in response to a comment I wrote in 10 seconds while multitasking.