On Monday, President Trump canceled the Secret Service protection for Hunter and Ashley Biden after the former first son was seen on a lavish vacation in South Africa while he was scheduled for a court deposition. Hunter was accompanied by more than a dozen agents during his getaway.
“Hunter Biden has had Secret Service protection for an extended period of time, all paid for by the United States Taxpayer,” Trump shared on Truth Social. “There are as many as 18 people on this Detail, which is ridiculous!”
Trump further commented, “He is currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the Human Rights of people has been strenuously questioned. Because of this, South Africa has been taken off our list of Countries receiving Economic and Financial Assistance.”
The president declared, “Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection.”
The president also took aim at Hunter’s half-sister, Ashley Biden, and her taxpayer-funded protection detail.
“Likewise, Ashley Biden who has 13 agents will be taken off the list,” Trump remarked.
This decision came shortly after Trump had previously mentioned he would “look” into revoking the security for the 55-year-old former first son.
“I would say if there are 18 [Secret Service agents] with Hunter Biden, that will be something I look at this afternoon,” Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Center when questioned about the taxpayer-funded detail.
Hunter Biden had been staying at a luxurious $500-a-night villa in Cape Town, which was promoted as an “ultra-luxurious designer home with spectacular 180-degree unobstructed views of the sea.”
However, a federal judge ruled in favor of Hunter Biden’s request to drop his lawsuit against Garrett Ziegler, a former White House aide whose organization, Marco Polo, uploaded the infamous “Laptop from Hell” contents online. This ruling occurred after Hunter had already left for South Africa, as shown in photos.
Before the ruling was made on Friday, Hunter had expressed financial struggles, claiming that his memoir and artwork were not selling, and that his family had to leave their Malibu rental due to wildfires.
Despite this, photographs showed him enjoying his time in Cape Town, shopping with his wife, Melissa Cohen, and staying at a high-end resort while accompanied by his federal protection team.
Garrett Ziegler spoke to The NY Post on Monday, claiming that Hunter had “fled the country” and criticizing the fact that U.S. taxpayers were funding his trip.
“Trump should strip his Secret Service protection, which he is not entitled to, and make Joe Biden, who is collecting three handsome federal pensions, foot the bill,” Ziegler said.
Ziegler also suggested that Trump should consider removing federal prosecutor Derek Hines from his position. Hines had worked on Hunter’s criminal cases, including charges related to tax fraud and gun violations, and had recently been promoted to first assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Secret Service protection is not automatically extended to the adult children of presidents, but sources from the Trump administration explained that Hunter was granted special protection at the request of his father.
Trump, 78, also expressed his dissatisfaction with Hunter being in South Africa, especially since his administration had stopped foreign aid to the country after its government implemented policies that took land from farmers as part of an apartheid-era reparations effort.
“South Africa, you know, is on a watch list. You know that, yes, because what they’re doing to people is brutal, and I’ve stopped having money go to South Africa. You know that’s billions of dollars,” Trump stated.
“So he’s in South Africa. That’s really interesting. All right, I’m going to take a look at that.”
On Friday, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that Hunter Biden did have protection, but he declined to confirm the number of agents that were assigned to accompany him.
Upon taking office, Trump removed Secret Service details for various former officials, including ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
“When you have protection, you can’t have it for the rest of your life,” Trump told reporters in January.
“Do you want to have a large detail of people guarding people for the rest of their lives?” he questioned. “I mean, there’s risks to everything.”
{Matzav.com}

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