President Donald Trump has ordered the Secret Service to stop providing a protection detail and other protective measures for former Vice President Kamala Harris, revoking an order signed in January by then-president Joe Biden to extend her security until January 2026.
Trump issued the directive Thursday in the form of a memorandum to the agency informing officials that they were “hereby authorized to discontinue any security-related procedures previously authorized by Executive Memorandum” concerning Harris, who under normal circumstances would have lost her protection on July 20, six months after the end of her term.
The end of Harris’s protective detail and the existence of the memorandum were first reported by CNN.
In a statement to the network, Harris adviser Kristen Allen said the former vice president is “grateful to the United States Secret Service for their professionalism, dedication, and unwavering commitment to safety.”
Since returning to office, Trump has used his authority over the Secret Service to punish perceived political adversaries by removing previously authorized protective details, even in cases where there have been documented threats to the people in question.
In his first days back in the White House, the president ordered the agency to stop protecting his first-term national security adviser, John Bolton, and his former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.
Both men have been on a list of officials targeted for assassination by Iran in retaliation for the Trump-ordered drone strike on Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Qassem Soleimani during the president’s first term.
But Trump nonetheless ordered their protective details to be withdrawn.
In March, he ordered an end to protection for former president Biden’s adult children, including his son Hunter Biden, at the urging of conspiracy theorist and far-right influencer Laura Loomer.
The ex-president had signed a directive extending protection for his adult children for six months after leaving office — something Trump had done for his own family before vacating the White House after losing the 2020 election.
But Trump declined to extend Biden the same courtesy and in a social media post, he expressed his disapproval of what he said were 18 agents assigned to Hunter Biden‘s security detail during his visit to South Africa this week. Hunter’s wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, is originally from South Africa.
“Hunter Biden has had Secret Service protection for an extended period of time, all paid for by the United States Taxpayer,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“There are as many as 18 people on this Detail, which is ridiculous! He is currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the Human Rights of people has been strenuously questioned.
Trump also said that Ashley Biden, who he said had 13 agents assigned to her, would be “taken off the list.”
Prominent national security attorney Mark Zaid has filed a preliminary injunction request to restore his security clearance that the Trump administration revoked.
In late March, President Donald Trump rescinded the security clearance of Zaid and other well-known lawyers, politicians, and officials. Zaid sued the Trump administration in early May over this revocation, arguing the president’s executive order represented “dangerous, unconstitutional retaliation.”
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“We say enough of Trump taking away security clearances out of retaliation & with no basis,” attorney Norman Eisen added on social media, along with a photo of the motion.
As the country grapples with the news that former President Joe Biden has stage four prostate cancer, the right wing made jokes and attacks that extended beyond the president.
One of those came from a President Donald Trump’s political appointee to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Leo Terrell.
Internet personality Ian Jaeger posted a photo of Dr. Jill Biden, calling her “evil” for “knowing” that her husband had health problems but still wanting him to run for the presidency.
Terrell reposted it, questioning whether it qualified as “elder abuse” and if “criminal charges” should be filed against the former first lady, flagged former DOJ appointee Eric Columbus on Bluesky.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-justice-department-2672134549
At least half a dozen USAID employees who spoke to reporters after they thought they had been fired by the Trump administration have now received notices from the foreign aid agency’s internal human resources office that they are facing investigation for participating in interviews.
The workers, whose formal dismissal date was delayed after leaders encountered bureaucratic snags, received an email in recent days carrying the subject line, “Administrative inquiry.” The email accused them of having “engaged with the press/media without authorization” and threatened “disciplinary action” including “removal from the U.S. Agency for International Development.”
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“It’s total intimidation,” said Randy Chester, the vice president of the American Foreign Service Association, which is the union that represents USAID employees. He said employees started receiving notices on Monday. The union shared the email exclusively with CBS.
How can they be disciplined after they’ve been fired?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doge-usaid-federal-workers-spoke-to-reporters-investigation
