President Donald Trump said Monday evening he was ending Secret Service protection for former President Joe Biden’s son Hunter and daughter Ashley.
Not only did Trump declare in a social media post that Hunter Biden — who has been a Trump target for years — would lose his protection “effective immediately,” he mentioned his whereabouts: “He is currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the Human Rights of people has been strenuously questioned.” The post merged two of Trump’s recent fixations: He has talked constantly about his predecessor and the Biden family since returning to office. And he has talked a lot lately about what he sees as the plight of white farmers in post-apartheid South Africa.
Trump’s post came after New York Post (a publication he reads closely) published an opinion article about Biden’s South African vacation and his security detail. On Monday afternoon, a reporter asked Trump about the topic as he was touring the Kennedy Center. “I just heard about it for the first time,” Trump said. He added that it was “really interesting” and that he plan ned to “take a look at it.” A few hours later, he made his post.
Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesperson, said: “We are aware of the president’s decision to terminate protection for Hunter and Ashley Biden. The Secret Service will comply and is actively working with the protective details and the White House to ensure compliance as soon as possible.” A representative for the Biden family declined to comment. This latest setback for Hunter Biden came days after he told a judge that he had “suffered a significant downturn in his income and has significant debt in the millions of dollars range” and therefore could not continue with a lawsuit against a former Trump aide.