Before leaving office former President Donald Trump ensured that his extended family would receive protection from the U.S. Secret Service for the next six months, according to several reports.
The Washington Post, citing three people briefed on the plan, reports that Trump instructed the elite team of agents to protect not only himself, wife Melania Trump and their son Barron, as provided by federal law, but also 14 extended family members.
A memorandum signed by then-president Trump allows the U.S. Secret Service to extend its protection, according to CNN.
The arrangement will come at no cost to the Trump family and is funded by taxpayers, the Post reports. The Secret Service will protect Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, along with their three children; Donald Trump Jr. and his five children; Eric Trump and wife Lara; and Tiffany Trump.
The grandchildren will not each receive a 24-hour detail, like Trump’s adult children, but will be protected as long as they are with their parents.
Former President Trump and former first lady Melania Trump will receive lifetime Secret Service protection as guaranteed in the Former Presidents Act, which will also give Barron coverage until he reaches age 16.
Congress voted in 1994 to limit Secret Service protection to 10 years after leaving office, but in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks President Obama reinstated the lifetime detail in 2012. While the cost of Secret Service protection isn’t made public, it is believed to be as high as tens of millions of dollars annually for each president.
Trump isn’t the first president to seek Secret Service coverage after leaving office, but the number of family members involved in the costly detail is substantially more than past presidents. The Post reports that Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush pursued continued security for their daughters, and President Obama’s daughters Sasha and Malia received Secret Service protection after he left office in 2017.
