The US Secret Service will transfer officers currently protecting lame duck president Donald Trump out of the presidential detail after Joe Biden’s inauguration to include agents who protected Biden and his family when he was Vice President, the Washington Post reports.
The move is not unprecedented, but it is unusual in an agency that prides itself on its apolitical mission of protecting the President. During the Trump administration, Trump has demanded unusual personal loyalty from his security detail, which may have compromised some agents impartiality and discretion.
Presidents rely on the professionalism and discretion of their details assigned to protect him and his family, as the agents are privy to political and personal events in the President’s life.
Trump, however, has reported politicized the selection of officers in his detail. He even selected on of the Secret Service agents, Anthony Ornato, to take a leave from his Secret Service position to become a political advisory role as Deputy Chief of Staff. After Trump leaves office, Ornato will return to the Secret Service and be reassigned to a non-protection position, overseeing a training program.
Republican political gadfly and perpetual losing candidate Dan Bongino broke established Secret Service protocols by writing a book, allegedly exposing personal aspects about Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and their families which he learned when on White House protective details.