Secret Service requested $60M budget increase to protect Trump, family: report

The U.S. Secret Service requested an extra $60 million for its 2018 budget to protect the Trump family and cover travel costs, according to internal agency documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rejected the request, however, according to a Post source.

Almost half of the requested funds, $26.8 million, would have been used to protect the first family and Trump Tower in New York City. The rest, $33 million, would have been used to cover the travel costs of “the president, vice president and other visiting heads of state,” according the newspaper.

{mosads}Since the inauguration, President Trump has travelled to his Palm Beach, Fla., club on five separate weekends. The agency’s budget request did not specifically list Mar-a-Lago in its request for increased funding, the Post reports.

Secret Service agents also accompany Trump’s two sons, Eric and Donald Jr., who now lead the Trump Organization, on trips across the globe to promote their properties.

If the Secret Service does not receive additional funds, it likely will have to divert resources from other units like cyber crime and counterfeit money-related cases, the newspaper reported.

The Secret Service declined to comment on the Post’s questions about its internal documents. The agency referred the Post to the Department of Homeland Security, which also declined to comment. The White House also referred the Post’s questions to the Secret Service as well as the OMB, which did not respond to the newspaper.

In an email to The Hill, OMB staff dismissed the Post’s reporting that additional funding was rejected, saying the estimates are still being determined. They also note the Post’s obtained documents refer to an “appeal” for the 2018 budget.

“The claim that we said no to $27M for Trump Tower/family protection is outright untrue. OMB supported its funding,” the staff wrote. “Presidential protection is a core mission of DHS and as such will be supported in the [Fiscal Year 2018] budget to be published mid-May.”

–This report was updated on March 23 at 1:19 p.m.