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President Donald Trump has revoked Secret Service protection for Joe Biden’s two adult children, Hunter Biden, 55, and Ashley Biden, 43, with “immediate” effect. Trump stated that taxpayer dollars should no longer be spent on their security.
The decision comes after reports revealed that 18 Secret Service agents were dispatched to Cape Town, South Africa, to provide protection for Hunter Biden during his luxurious vacation, where he was reportedly staying in a $500-a-night beachfront villa, with taxpayer-funded accommodations for his security detail.
Meanwhile, Ashley Biden had 13 agents assigned to her in the United States.
However, with Joe Biden’s term as president now over, his adult children are no longer eligible for Secret Service protection. Under the Former Presidents Protection Act, only children under 16 are entitled to continued security.
Nevertheless, as one of his final actions in office, President Biden extended Secret Service protection for his children for an additional six months. Trump, however, disagreed with this move.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump made his position clear: “Hunter Biden has had Secret Service protection for an extended period of time, all paid for by the United States Taxpayer.
“There are as many as 18 people on this Detail, which is ridiculous! He is currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the Human Rights of people have been strenuously questioned.”
Trump then declared that South Africa would be removed from the U.S. list of countries receiving economic aid, adding, “Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection. Likewise, Ashley Biden, who has 13 agents, will be taken off the list.”
Critics quickly pointed out that Trump himself had extended Secret Service protection to his four adult children when he left office in 2021. At the time, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Tiffany Trump continued to receive taxpayer-funded security for six months after his presidency ended.
However, Trump’s drastic move to cut costs appears to be part of a broader push to reduce federal spending.
This includes his newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is headed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Their mission is to reduce federal waste and eliminate unnecessary government jobs, with a goal to completely shut down DOGE by July 4, 2026.
As if removing security from Biden’s family wasn’t enough, Trump also invalidated Joe Biden’s last-minute pardons, claiming they were illegally signed using an autopen and that Biden was unaware of what he was approving.
Trump posted again on Truth Social, issuing a statement: “The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen.”
“In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!”
The pardons, issued during Biden’s final hours in office, included several high-profile figures, such as:
- All nine members of the House Jan. 6 Select Committee, including Rep. Bennie Thompson and former Rep. Liz Cheney
