President Trump said he plans to investigate why the Secret Service sent 18 agents to accompany Hunter Biden on a luxury vacation in South Africa.
Former President Joseph R. Biden’s son was spotted last week in Cape Town, South Africa, accompanied by his South African-born wife, Melissa, and a detail of Secret Service agents.
When The Washington Times asked Mr. Trump about Hunter Biden’s taxpayer-funded protection, the president said he did not know about it but would look into it.
“I would say if there are 18 [agents] with Hunter Biden, that will be something I look at this afternoon. I just heard about it for the first time,” the president said during a visit Monday to the Kennedy Center.
Mr. Trump noted that he had already revoked Secret Service protection from many former Biden officials.
Current law does not extend protective services to adult children of former presidents, but according to reports, Mr. Trump had extended the protection to Hunter Biden until July.
“So he’s in South Africa. That’s really interesting. All right, I’m going to take a look at that,” Mr. Trump said.
Hunter Biden was convicted of firearms charges and was facing a litany of tax evasion charges until he was pardoned by his father shortly before the elder Mr. Biden’s presidency ended.
The Washington Times reached out to Hunter Biden’s legal representative.
Conservative activist and commentator Laura Loomer first reported that Hunter Biden went to South Africa with his 18 Secret Service agents in tow.
He fled to South Africa amid demands that he pay the legal costs for a former Trump aide he sued for publishing the contents of his discarded laptop computer.
Hunter Biden, in a filing with a federal court in March, said he’s struggling to sell his artwork and his book sales have plummeted as well. He also lost his rental home in the California wildfires and can’t find a place to live.
He told the judge he was in such financial straits that he had to drop the lawsuit against Garrett Ziegler, a one-time aide in the first Trump White House.
Hunter Biden sued Mr. Ziegler for publishing the contents of the discarded laptop computer on his website, Marco Polo. Hunter Biden said Mr. Ziegler broke state and federal laws in creating a database of emails recovered from the laptop.
Hunter Biden said the emails were illegally accessed and manipulated.
On X, Mr. Ziegler called on Mr. Trump to revoke Hunter Biden’s Secret Service protection.
“Given his lying to the federal court, it should be revoked.
Joe Biden gets a handsome U.S. government pension — he can pay for a private security firm for Hunter,” Mr. Ziegler said.
