Security for Hunter Biden's Upscale Malibu House Is Costing the Secret Service $30,000 a Month
Security for Hunter Biden is reportedly costing the Secret Service $30,000 a month, and it's all funded by taxpayers.
ABC News reports the agency had to pick a property that's close to the president's son, who pays $20,000 a month to rent his own resort-style house in Malibu.
Retired Secret Service agent Dan Mihalek told ABC News that it is standard operating procedure for agents to live near members of the first family.
"Typically, wherever a protectee sets up their residence, the Secret Service is forced to find someplace to rent nearby at market value," Mihalek said. "This isn't new. The Service has had to do this in past administrations, and unfortunately, the housing market right now has driven the prices up substantially."
When asked about the hefty price of protection, a spokesperson for the Secret Service told ABC News: "Due to the need to maintain operational security, the U.S. Secret Service does not comment on the means, methods, or resources used to conduct our protective operations."
The expense to safeguard presidential families has seemed to boggle the mind.
The Washington Post reported that during Donald Trump's first year as president, the Secret Service asked for $60 million of additional funding to watch over Trump and his family.
Nearly $27 million of the money was used to protect the family at their private residency at the Trump Tower in New York City.
And the Obama family took a trip to Martha's Vineyard in August 2016, which cost the Secret Service $2.7 million, along with $2.5 million in hotels and $90,000 in rental cars. Later that year, the family's Christmas trip to Honolulu cost the agency $1.9 million, including $1.8 million in hotels.
Mihalek says the high price that goes with protecting presidential family members is "all relative."
"Hunter's out in Malibu, which is not a low-cost area," noted Mihalek. "And the Trump kids, too, they didn't live in low-cost areas."
Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist with Public Citizen, told ABC that Hunter should consider ways to reduce the cost to taxpayers. He suggested limiting unnecessary travel and allowing agents to share his property.
"Hunter should recognize the exorbitant cost of his own protection in the exclusive Malibu neighborhood, and cooperate with the Secret Service to bring down the expenses," said Holman. "A cost of $30,000 a month for the Secret Service to rent a home in Malibu next to Hunter is an unconscionable burden to taxpayers, all for the personal benefit of Hunter Biden. Hunter should realize this and accommodate his security detail in his own home."
Meanwhile, Hunter faces a federal tax investigation that could result in charges against the first son. The probe will sort through his foreign payments and other finances.
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