Could Donald Trump lose Secret Service protection if convicted? What is the DISGRACED Act?
US Representative Bennie G Thompson has introduced a proposed bill that would remove Secret Service protection from those convicted of a felony crime.
The United States Secret Service has been tasked with protecting presidents, their families and other high-level officials for more than a century. But a new proposed bill would remove that protection should the individual be charged with a state or federal felony crime.
The proposal has been specifically put forth due to “former President Donald J. Trump’s unprecedented 91 felony charges in Federal and State courts across the country” creating a “new exigency that Congress must address to ensure Secret Service protection does not interfere with the criminal judicial process and the administration of justice.”
Could Donald Trump lose Secret Service protection if convicted? What is the DISGRACED Act?
Never before in the history of the United States has a US president faced criminal charges in a US court of law. That changed last year in March when former President Trump was indicted on 34 felony counts in New York. That case is now underway, which involves allegations that hush money payments were made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair that she had had with then-candidate Donald Trump ten years prior in order to avoid knowledge of it affecting his chances in the 2016 general election.
That is just one of four criminal trials he is facing, the others involve his involvement in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, one in Georgia for attempting to have the valid vote thrown out and another in DC which led to the assault on the US Capitol, and the fourth in Florida for illegally holding onto classified documents and obstructing their return to the proper authorities.
The Denying Infinite Security and Government Resources Allocated toward Convicted and Extremely Dishonorable Former Protectees Act, or DISGRACED Former Protectees Act, if passed could remove Secret Service protection from former Trump as well as “all Secret Service protectees convicted and sentenced under felony charges.”
The proposed legislation is contemplated in order to “remove the potential for conflicting lines of authority within prisons and allow judges to weigh the sentencing of individuals without having to factor in the logistical concerns of convicts with Secret Service protection” under current law. The concern is that without such a change in Secret Service protection that there may be “an impediment to the equal administration of justice and present logistical difficulties for both the Secret Service and prison authorities at the Federal and State levels.”
This bill would not only target former President Trump but “would apply to all Secret Service protectees convicted and sentenced under felony charges.” However, it would not affect those members of Trump’s family, or those of other protectees contemplated under the current laws regulating Secret Service protection.