Washington — President Trump has revoked former Vice President Kamala Harris’ U.S. Secret Service protection, a senior White House official confirmed to CBS News.
Former vice presidents, their spouses and children younger than 16 typically only continue to receive protection by the Secret Service for up to six months after leaving office under a law passed by Congress in 2008. But for recent administrations, an outgoing vice president’s detail has been extended beyond that allotted time because of a heightened threat environment.
Federal law allows the secretary of Homeland Security to direct the Secret Service to provide temporary protection for a former vice president for longer than six months after leaving the White House “if the Secretary of Homeland Security or designee determines that information or conditions warrant such protection.”
Former President Joe Biden had signed an executive order in early January that extended Harris’ detail to 18 months after she left office, two senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security told CBS News.
But Mr. Trump made the decision Thursday to revoke that continued protection, and an executive memorandum was issued to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem directing her to rescind Harris’ Secret Service detail, effective Sept. 1, the officials said.
The directive was then forwarded to the Secret Service, and the agency will comply with the order, the Homeland Security officials said.
The U.S. Secret Service ran a threat assessment on Harris and did not find anything alarming, nothing that would warrant extending her detail past the usual six months, according to sources familiar with the situation.
“The Vice President is grateful to the United States Secret Service for their professionalism, dedication, and unwavering commitment to safety,” Kirsten Allen, a senior adviser to Harris, said in a statement to CBS News.
The decision by Mr. Trump was first reported by CNN.
Since returning to the White House for a second term, Mr. Trump’s administration has removed Secret Service protection for several people, including John Bolton, who was the president’s national security adviser in his first term, and Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden, the children of former President Joe Biden.
Former presidents and their spouses receive Secret Service protection for life, but that ends for a president’s children who are over the age of 16 when they leave the White House. Biden, however, had signed an executive order before the end of his term that extended protection for his adult children, multiple sources told CBS News in March.
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