When taking a break from guarding Hunter Biden, Secret Service agents can relax and enjoy "gorgeous ocean views."
For nearly a year, the Secret Service has doled out $30,000 a month in taxpayer money to rent a mansion in Malibu, California next door to the $20,000-per-month mansion where Joe Biden's son Hunter resides, a report said.
Don Mihalek, a retired senior Secret Service agent and current ABC News contributor, said the arrangement is "the cost of doing business for the Secret Service," ABC News reported on Tuesday.
Like so much else in 2022 America, the price tag is a function of the Team Biden economy.
"Typically, wherever a protectee sets up their residence, the Secret Service is forced to find someplace to rent nearby at market value," Mihalek said. "This isn't new. The Service has had to do this in past administrations, and unfortunately, the housing market right now has driven the prices up substantially."
According to its real estate listing, the Spanish-style estate being rented by the Secret Service sits on a 0.7-acre lot above the Malibu coast and features "gorgeous ocean views."
The mansion features six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a gym, a tasting room, a built-in barbecue, a pool, a spa, and a spiral staircase that leads up to a "castle-like tower to the master retreat with wet bar." The luxurious estate boasts "resort style living at its finest" and is "a perfect retreat for discerning clientele," the listing says.
Hunter Biden's mansion, according to its property listing, features four bedrooms and three bathrooms in a "resort-style" home with an open floor plan, vaulted high ceilings, chef's kitchen and French doors. The mansion also features a "spacious park-like yard" with a pool, a spa, a built-in barbecue bar, and alfresco dining.
The property is located on 0.7 acres atop a hill, and boasts "enchanting" 180-degree panoramic ocean views, the listing says.
Mihalek said it is necessary to have a command post near the protectee in order for the Secret Service to do their job effectively.
"The Secret Service couldn't have a command post in the next town over," he said. "It'd do them no good."
Hunter Biden, along with other members of the Biden family, began to receive around-the-clock protection from the Secret Service when Joe Biden became the Democratic presidential nominee in June 2020.
Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist, told ABC News that Secret Service protection is necessary but Hunter Biden should recognize that the agency is there for his protection and should help lower the cost to taxpayers by reducing unnecessary travel or by sharing their own properties free of charge.
"Hunter should recognize the exorbitant cost of his own protection in the exclusive Malibu neighborhood, and cooperate with the Secret Service to bring down the expenses," said Holman. "A cost of $30,000 a month for the Secret Service to rent a home in Malibu next to Hunter is an unconscionable burden to taxpayers, all for the personal benefit of Hunter Biden. Hunter should realize this and accommodate his security detail in his own home."
Joe Biden, as vice president during Barack Obama's presidency, collected $2,200 a month in payments from the Secret Service by renting out a cottage on his Delaware property for the agents protecting him, according to past media reports and federal spending records.
About . . . . Intelligence . . . . Membership
