Secret Service protection for Donald Trump is different than for other ex-presidents

The legal woes of Donald Trump have cast a new light on the role of those federal agents assigned to protect him and other former presidents for the rest of their lives: the U.S. Secret Service.

There they were, accompanying the 45th president as he made his way into a Manhattan courthouse earlier this month to be fingerprinted and arraigned on 34 felony counts.

Meanwhile, current and former officers assigned to Trump are part of another investigation of the former president, reportedly having to testify at a Washington, D.C., grand jury as part of the investigation into classified documents seized at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. 

All this, along with other potential cases, including his involvement with the Jan. 6 riots, and accusations of 2020 election interference in Georgia, at least raise the possibility that Trump could be convicted, and perhaps, incarcerated.

CBC News looks at the role of the U.S. Secret Service in protecting former presidents, the challenges of Trump, and whether they would accompany him if he were sent to prison.

When did protection for presidents begin? 

Although the U.S. Secret Service was founded in 1865 — created to combat counterfeiting of U.S. currency after the Civil War, according to the Secret Service website — it began protecting presidents in 1901 after the assassination of president William McKinley in Buffalo, N.Y.

The protection for sitting presidents, which remains today and can't be rejected, also extends to their spouses and immediate family

But in 1958, the Former Presidents Act was passed which, beginning 1965, would provide for a lifetime of protection for former presidents, their spouses and their children, up to the age of 15. (Protection of a spouse would terminate in the event of remarriage).

There have, however, been some tweaks throughout the years.

Even though the adult children of presidents are supposed to lose their protective detail when the president leaves office, both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have signed directives authorizing the Secret Service to provide a period of extended protection for their children, according to CBS News.

What does the Secret Service do for former presidents?

It's the responsibility of the Secret Service to protect former presidents at all times, meaning, "they will oversee and directly co-ordinate all levels of security for wherever [they] go," said Tim Miller, a former Secret Service agent.

But the level of security is "all based on whatever the Secret Service, through its intelligence and co-ordination capabilities, determines is appropriate for the protecting," said Miller.

As for the number of agents assigned to a former president, that really depends on potential threats and how long they've been out of office.

"Even a former president could be a goal of terrorist," said Ronald Kessler, author of In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect.

"They can hold them hostage for example."

Kessler said that when George W. Bush left office, the threat level was such that he had around 75 officers protecting him and his wife Laura to cover shifts around the clock.

"Typically with former presidents who have left office recently, there would be four agents with him when he goes out," he said. 

"And then, of course, it's protection 24 hours a day. So you need three shifts and days off. And so that adds up in terms of agents."

Although the security detail may be less intense once the president has left office, there are still advanced checks of public areas to be visited.

"If he's going to go to a restaurant, they will go there first and check on the employees and check on their backgrounds to see if anybody has convictions for anything violent," Kessler said. "Let's say they're going to a convention or something like that, they'll definitely check the convention hall. They'll have bomb sniffing dogs go around."

Was the lifetime coverage suspended?

Yes, during the Clinton administration in 1994, in an effort to cut costs, the U.S. Congress changed the lifetime protection of former presidents to just a 10-year limit.

"Just a feeling that it wasn't necessary, that former presidents would not be a target," Kessler said.

But with the Former Presidents Protection Act of 2012, Barack Obama reinstated the lifetime protection.

"The world has changed dramatically since the 9/11 terrorist attacks," said Republican Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas during House debate on the bill, according to a CBS News report at the time.

"We must make sure that the safety and security of our former chief executives is not jeopardized," said Smith.

Not everyone agreed. North Carolina Republican Rep. Howard Coble said that former presidents can carve out a pretty lucrative career and should pay for the security themselves.

Has any president rejected protection?

Although current holders of the office can't refuse Secret Service protection, former presidents do have that option.

In 1985, former president Richard Nixon cancelled his lifetime protection, reportedly to save the government money. He then hired his own private guards.

That made him the first, and so far only, former president to cancel Secret Service protection.

How does protection for Trump differ from other former presidents?

Trump, says Miller, has been an outlier in the history of the Secret Service because not only is he a former president, but a current candidate for president. (Presidential candidates are also afforded protection).

"[That] would add some different dynamics because he'll be going from site to site to site to site," he said.

"You look at George W. Bush, he went to the ranch, his dad went to Kennebunkport, and they lived relatively obscure lives from that point," Miller said. "That's not the case with former president Trump."

As for their role when Trump was being indicted, "the service was likely with him every step of the way," Miller said.

"You do not allow anyone to assume the [protection] of the Secret Service protectee other than the Secret Service."

So what if Trump goes to prison?

A number of news stories have raised the question about whether Trump would be accompanied by some kind of Secret Service detail if he ends up incarcerated.

"If he went to the jail, they would definitely be outside the cellblock guarding him," Kessler said. "Because otherwise it's useless. It's not going to do any good being out in the corridor or somewhere else."

In a column for ABC News, former Secret Service agent Donald J. Mihalek said the question about how protection would work if a former president were to go to jail has a clear answer.

"Simply, the law mandates it and the Secret Service would have to provide protection, even in jail, as only the protectee may end it," he wrote.

But Miller said that would be "exceptionally problematic" for the Secret Service and create a whole lot of challenges. 

"And quite frankly, I don't think there would ever be a scenario where he would be placed in a jail with other people," he said. "That would be problematic across the spectrum."