WASHINGTON- President Donald Trump announced Monday that he will be revoking the Secret Service protection of his predecessor’s two adult children “immediately,” calling the number of people assigned to the detail “ridiculous.”
Trump complained that Democratic President Joe Biden’s two children, Hunter Biden, 55, and Ashley Biden, 43, have 18 and 13 people assigned to their detail, respectively, in a post on Truth Social.
“Hunter Biden has had Secret Service protection for an extended period of time, all paid for by the United States Taxpayer,” wrote Trump. “There are as many as 18 people on this Detail, which is ridiculous!”
“Likewise, Ashley Biden who has 13 agents will be taken off the list,” he wrote.
During a visit to the Kennedy Center Monday afternoon, Trump was asked by a reporter about Hunter Biden’s detail as he vacationed in South Africa.
Trump said he was hearing about it “for the first time” and pledged to “take a look at.”
Within a matter of hours, Trump had revoked the protection not just of Hunter Biden but that of his sister.
Former presidents and their spouses (except when the spouse re-marries) receive lifelong Secret Service protection, whereas their children are guaranteed protection under the age of 16, according to federal law.
In December, in one of his last acts as president, Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who was convicted of three federal gun felonies and federal tax charges earlier in 2024.
The former president said he believed his son was being “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
Trump also derided Hunter Biden for vacationing in “of all places, South Africa,” saying it was a place where the “Human Rights of people has been strenuously questioned.”
Last month, Trump signed an executive order stopping “aid and assistance” to South Africa over “human rights violations” including a land reform act which it said discriminated against white South Africans.
Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, is a South African native. Trump’s billionaire friend, Elon Musk, also is a South African native and has described the country’s land laws as “openly racist ownership laws.”
Among people who Trump has stripped Secret Service protection from include a number of career officials. On his first day in office, Trump revoked the security clearance of his former National Security Adviser John Bolton as well as his Secret Service protection.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
