Scoop: Trump shooting spurs bill to split up the Secret Service
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Rep. Ritchie Torres being interviewed at the U.S. Capitol on July 1, 2021. Photo: Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images.
A House Democrat is introducing legislation that would cleave off the Secret Service's original mission of investigating financial crimes and have the agency focus solely on protecting political leaders, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: It is an idea that has been floated for years and has recently received bipartisan support in the aftermath of last month's assassination attempt against former President Trump.
Driving the news: Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) is introducing a bill, first obtained by Axios, to "transfer the investigative jurisdiction over payment and financial systems" from the Secret Service to the Treasury Department.
- The Focus on Protection Act would require the transfer of all assets and personnel involved in the financial crimes mission within 180 days.
- Such a move would "enhance efficiency and focus in combating financial crimes" and allow the Secret Service to "focus on its core mission" of protecting high-profile U.S. political figures, their families and visiting foreign dignitaries.
- Torres and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) introduced a bill after the Trump shooting to enhance protection for Trump and President Biden and to provide a Secret Service detail for independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Context: The Secret Service was founded in 1865 as a sub-agency within the Treasury Department with the task of cracking down on counterfeiting, a rampant issue after the Civil War.
- It was only given its second role of protecting the president and other political leaders after the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901.
- The agency, whose financial mission has evolved to cover bank and wire fraud, cybersecurity and illicit financing, was transferred to the newly created Department of Homeland Security in 2003.
Between the lines: Amid budget constraints, hiring difficulties and a series of well-publicized mishaps during the Obama administration, a bipartisan House Oversight Committee report in 2015 urged the agency to look into shedding its "collateral or non-essential missions."
- It's an idea that has repeatedly cropped up in the intervening years, with Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for a second Trump administration, recommending the Secret Service be "divided in two."
State of play: The Trump rally shooting, which led to Director Kimberly Cheatle's resignation, has renewed those calls.
- Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote on X two days after the shooting: "Perhaps it's time for the Secret Service to be dedicated entirely to dignitary protection."
- "Common sense would say that plenty of other federal law-enforcement agencies could pick up the financial-crimes portfolio," Johns Hopkins political science professor Eliot Cohen wrote in The Atlantic on Thursday.
Yes, but: The U.S. Government Account Office found in a 2020 report that while the Secret Service could do a better job prioritizing and synchronizing its resources, its investigations actually support its protective mission.
- Most of the 40 current and former agents the GAO interviewed said the investigations do not negatively impact the protection mission, the report said.
- The GAO also interviewed a dozen federal prosecutors who argued that the Secret Service's overlap with other agencies that investigate financial crimes is beneficial, often providing additional manpower and expertise.
What to watch: It's not clear whether Torres' bill can get a vote in the Republican-controlled House, but the topic may be explored by the bipartisan task force the chamber has convened to investigate the shooting.
