POLITICS
Does Hunter Biden have Secret Service protection?
As the son of President Joe Biden he receives 24/7 protection from officers, who have been living it up in a luxury beachfront property in Malibu.
Hunter Biden has been found guilty on three federal felonies, in relations to charges of possessing a firearm while an active drug addict. The jury delivered the verdict in a Wilmington, Delaware courthouse on Tuesday but the President’s son has not yet been sentenced.
As is the case with all members of a president’s family, Hunter Biden has been afforded around-the-clock Secret Service protection during his father’s time in the White House. This applies to all spouses and children of all US presidents and vice-presidents, due to the increased threat that they face.
Hunter Biden has been spending his father’s first term in office in a luxury beachfront property in Malibu, meaning that his Secret Service team are in similarly swanky accommodation. ABC News reports that his security detail is living in a $30,000-a-month mansion nearby to ensure that Hunter Biden is protected 24/7.
Why does Hunter Biden have Secret Service protection?
The Secret Service was founded in 1865, initially as a branch of the Treasury Department. It’s first role was to crack down on the counterfeiting of US currency but that gradually morphed into a broader role.
The assassination of President William McKinley in 1901 stunned the nation and the role of the Secret Service was expanded to include a new core mission, protecting the president.
Now the Secret Service is required, by law, to protect: “The president, the vice president, (or other individuals next in order of succession to the Office of the President), the president-elect and vice president-elect,” along with the “immediate families of the above individuals.”
Former presidents and their spouse do not lose that protection after they leave office and a Secret Service detail is available for the entirety of their lives, unless they forgo that right. During presidential campaigns the Secret Service protection is expanded to include all major presidential and vice presidential candidates and their spouses for a period of 120 days leading up to the election.