Trump Extends Secret Service Protection To His 4 Adult Children, 3 Top Officials as He Left Office

By Mary Anne R. First Posted: Jan 21, 2021 05:37 AM EST

Before he left office, former president Donald Trump issued a directive to extend the post-presidency Secret Service protection to his four adult children and two of their spouses, who were not automatically entitled to the service.

According to three people familiar with the matter, protected under Trump's directive are Ivanka and her husband Jared, Eric and his wife Lara, Donald Jr., and Tiffany Trump.

They said that Trump also ordered for the protection of three former top officials for six more months. They were former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and former national security adviser Robert C. O'Brien, Washington Post reported.

According to federal law, Trump and his wife, Melania, including their 14-year-old son, Barron, are the only immediate family members entitled to Secret Service protection once they leave the office.

Trump and Melania are entitled to a lifetime Secret Service protection, while Barron will only be protected until he's 16 years old. However, Trump wanted every family member, protected by the Secret Service during his term, to be covered for another six months.

According to a Business Insider report, Trump's grandchildren will also indirectly receive protection that would come from being close to their parents.

The extended security service could cost taxpayers millions of dollars, particularly with the amount of traveling that Trump's children do in connection to the family company, the Trump Organization.

A former Trump White House spokesman refused to comment on the issue. The same goes for a spokeswoman for the Secret Service, saying that the agency does not discuss individuals it protects.

Another Washington Post report showed that from 2017 to 2019, Trump family members took 4,500 trips that needed the Secret Service to be with them, which had cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

The Post also reported that the Secret Service rented a studio for $3,000 a month near Ivanka and Jared's Washington home to give agents access to a bathroom.

Forbes reported that the agents were not allowed to relieve themselves in any of the home's half-dozen bathrooms.

Presidents Extending Secret Service Protections

Trump is not the only president of the United States to extend Secret Service protection. Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were granted additional security services to their college-age daughters for some time after their terms.

Former President Barack Obama also extended protections for daughters Sasha and Malia after he left office. His daughters were in high school and college, respectively. A Secret Service official declined to comment when did the protection for Obama's daughters had ended.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to questions about the threat assessment that prompted Trump's decision to extend the Secret Service protection to his children. The DHS oversees the Secret Service agency.

The Secret Service has already mobilized details for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' extended families. Security teams are being deployed to protect Biden's two grown children and seven grandchildren, as well as Harris' two stepchildren.