Hunter Biden’s Secret Service detail has been renting out a Malibu, Calif. mansion to be near the president’s son, costing taxpayers some $30,000 per month for almost the past year, according to a new report.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service told the outlet: “Due to the need to maintain operational security, the U.S. Secret Service does not comment on the means, methods, or resources used to conduct our protective operations.”
The younger Biden, who is at the center of a federal tax investigation, is staying in a four-bedroom, three-bathroom “resort style” home situated on 0.7 acres atop a hill. It has an open floor plan, vaulted high ceilings, chef’s kitchen and French doors, along with 180-degree panoramic ocean views, according to a description on its property listing reviewed by ABC News.
The Secret Service agents are living and working next door to Biden’s lux abode in a Spanish-style estate situated on a 0.7-acre lot that similarly features six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a gym and “gorgeous ocean views,” according to the report. The estate also has a pool, a spa and a spiral staircase leading to a “castle-like tower to the master retreat with wet bar.”
Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at progressive consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen, told the outlet that while Secret Service Protection is needed to protect the president and his family, they should be mindful of the cost to taxpayers and help lower that cost by reducing unnecessary travel or 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,” Holman said. “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.”
By comparison, the security detail that protected Ivanka Trump, the daughter of former President Donald Trump, and her husband Jared Kushner cost taxpayers $3,000 per month for a studio apartment near the couple’s Washington, D.C., home, according to the report.
The Secret Service has spent at least $1.2 million at various Trump-owned properties while protecting the Trump family, the report adds.
“Ivanka and Jared should have opened up their house to the Secret Service, just as Hunter Biden should do at his Malibu residence,” Holman said.
The new report on Hunter Biden’s Malibu mansion comes as prosecutors continue to investigate foreign payments the younger Biden has received and other aspects of his finances as part of a federal investigation that began in 2018. A federal grand jury has heard testimony in recent months about the younger Biden’s income and payments he collected while serving on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.