Secret Service forced out of Trump Tower

DONALD Trump’s Secret Service bodyguards have been forced out of his New York skyscraper in a row with the President’s family business over their lease.

The federal agency, which protects the US leader and his family, has had to relocate its command post 50 floors down into a trailer on the pavement outside Trump Tower. The Secret Service, which also protects key election candidates, has had a presence in the glitzy building since last year’s campaign.

The command post was previously on the floor below the President’s apartment. Sources say government officials in the General Services Administration had been trying to formalise the lease.

However, negotiations with the Trump Organisation, which owns the building, broke down over the price and other details of the deal.

Even though the President will be closely protected by his personal bodyguards when he is at the tower, security experts say locating the building’s main Secret Service outpost so far away from the presidential home could hamper rescue efforts in an emergency. Since Melania Trump and their son Barron moved to the White House in June, the family have rarely used the Trump Tower apartment.

But the Secret Service is still required to protect the residence even when empty.