There was also a small cadre of Secret Service agents who treated travel on the road with a wheels up, rings off mentality. International trips were something people were excited about doing to just sort of blow off some steam and get out of town. International trips were a perk for guys who had to work ceaseless hours in a stairwell or walk convention halls for 48 hours. ![]() And in fact, what agents told me in the wake of this series of investigations, what they told me was this happened all the time. They felt that he was putting his head in the sand. ![]() And senators weren't buying this when Director Mark Sullivan testified that this was a shocking one-time event. Unfortunately, the Secret Service leadership decided to, instead of look at what this shocking event revealed and try to fix it - they insisted it was a one-off. And there were these demands for heads to roll. And it really troubled, obviously, President Obama, but it also really upset Congress. On the 2012 scandal when the advance team of Secret Service agents for Obama had sex workers in their room in Cartagena, ColombiaĪgents were flown back, unceremoniously sent packing, because they were under investigation for bringing prostitutes back to their room and turning a presidential trip essentially into like a bachelor's weekend in Vegas. That's how much more money they needed for his golf trips. They made an emergency request in the spring for in 2017, just out of fear that they were not going to be able to cover the rest of their missions, including protecting the president and his family and protecting the White House. So that travel was, again, just bleeding the Secret Service dry. In fact, I don't know of a time that he traveled to someone else's club. And the second part of that was he was traveling frequently to his own golf clubs. But what was so unusual about Donald Trump was he was deciding, first, to travel basically every other weekend in the first part of his presidency, wherever he chose to golf. So every president is going to cost a lot of money wherever they go. And the estimates for the cost of that trip. And, you know, I wrote about President Obama taking a trip to Africa, which featured a little bit of vacation and a little bit of work. On how former President Donald Trump's golf trips cost the Secret ServiceĮvery president that travels is taking a small city with him wherever he goes. Politics Secret Service Agents Frustrated With Trump's Unnecessary Coronavirus Risks Leonnig says the mission is made all the more challenging by the fact that the Secret Service is understaffed, underfunded and often working with outdated technology and inadequate training. The Secret Service is also charged with investigating financial crimes, such as counterfeit money. ![]() political leaders and their family members as well as visiting heads of state. In her new book, Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service, Leonnig charts the agency's "chronic, ridiculously large mission," which includes protecting U.S. Sometimes seen wearing crisp suits, sunglasses and ear pieces, the agents charged with protecting the president present a striking visual.īut Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post investigative reporter Carol Leonnig says the Secret Service itself is something of a mess. Secret Service snipers watch on a rooftop as then-President Barack Obama speaks at a 2012 campaign rally in Concord, N.H.Įvery time the president of the United States travels, he's accompanied by a cadre of Secret Service agents.
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