President Donald Trump said Monday that he is terminating Secret Service protection for his predecessor’s two adult children: Hunter and Ashley Biden.
“Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. He added that Ashley Biden also “will be taken off the list.”
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A Secret Service official said the agency was aware of Trump’s decision.
“The Secret Service will comply and is actively working with the protective details and the White House to ensure compliance as soon as possible,” the official said.
A spokesperson for Joe Biden and an attorney for Hunter Biden did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday night.
Trump told reporters hours earlier that “that will be something I’ll look at this afternoon” when he was asked whether he planned to remove Hunter Biden’s security detail after Biden’s recent trip to South Africa.
Under federal law, former presidents and their spouses are provided security protection throughout their lives, unless they decline it. The Secret Service is also authorized to protect former presidents’ children until age 16 after they leave office.
Hunter Biden is 55 and Ashley Biden is 43.
It is common for family members of former presidents to have Secret Service protection for a certain period. Former presidents’ children often receive protection from the Secret Service for up to six months after their administrations end, but that is up to the discretion of the sitting president.
Joe Biden extended security protections for his adult children until July before he left office in January. After Trump’s first term ended, Biden extended protections to Trump’s adult children for six months.
Trump has terminated security protections for others since he took office for his second term.
In January, Trump removed Secret Service protection for Dr. Anthony Fauci, who oversaw the federal government’s response to the Covid pandemic. He also yanked the security detail for John Bolton, a White House national security adviser during Trump’s first term who wrote a book that criticized Trump’s leadership.
“When you work for government, at some point your security detail comes off,” Trump said at the time. “And, you know, you can’t have them forever.”
