Secret Service budget asks for $25M to protect Trump Tower
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is asking for more money to protect President Donald Trump’s signature New York skyscraper, add hundreds of new Secret Service agents and strengthen security at the White House, according to new budget documents presented to Congress.
The request is for $25.7 million in security-related expenses at Trump Tower, including “personnel travel costs assigned to the protective details for the children and grandchildren of President Trump, as well as other functions supporting these details.” Those services, the request said, will be maintained “throughout the incumbent’s presidency.”
The budget numbers offer the first look into the administration’s request for a full year’s worth of extra protective resources under Trump, who frequently has stayed at his namesake properties outside of the White House since he took office Jan. 20. The figures also underscore the taxpayer costs that benefit Trump, with $6.3 million allocated toward “rent and utilities” at Trump Tower.
The biggest increase includes $1.3 billion in new staffing, including $75 million for 453 special agents and uniformed officers as part of a multiyear personnel plan. The administration said the money helps it “keep pace with mission requirements” by getting 7,150 positions filled by the end of the next budget year.