Secret Service moves out of Trump Tower
Command post set up in trailer after lease dispute with president’s NYC company
The Secret Service has vacated its command post inside Trump Tower in Manhattan after a dispute between the government and President Donald Trump’s company over the terms of a lease for the space, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
Previously, the Secret Service had stationed its command post, which houses supervisors and backup agents on standby in case of an emergency, in a Trump Tower unit one floor below the president’s apartment.
But in early July, the post was relocated to a trailer on the sidewalk, more than 50 floors below, a distance that some security experts feared could hamper the agency that protects the president’s home and family.
The command post appears unlikely to move anytime soon back inside Trump Tower, where the president and his family have rarely gone since moving to the White House.
On Thursday, a spokesman for the Trump Organization said the government should seek space in another location.
“After much consideration, it was mutually determined that it would be more cost effective and logistically practical for the Secret Service to lease space elsewhere,” spokesman Amanda Miller said in an email.
The details of the dispute between the Trump Organization and the Secret Service were not clear Thursday. Two people familiar with the discussions said the sticking points included the price and other conditions of the lease.
On Thursday, there appeared to be a difference of opinion over whether negotiations for a Trump Tower space were still going on.
Despite the Trump Organization’s statement to the Post on Thursday saying the agency should look elsewhere, Secret Service officials said the agency is still hoping for space in Trump Tower.
The agency is working “to obtain permanent work space in an appropriate location,” said Catherine Milhoan, a Secret Service spokesman.
Milhoan added, “Throughout this process, there has been no impact to the security plan developed by the Secret Service.”
A spokesman for the General Services Administration, which handles government leasing, declined to comment because the search for a command-post space is still active.
“The space is still in the process of being obtained and a final decision has not been made,” spokesman Pamela Dixon wrote in an email.
Because the president has retained ownership of a real estate and branding company, Trump’s government sought to be a customer of Trump’s business. To protect him, the agency needed space in the tower where he lives. But the two sides couldn’t agree. The Trump Organization was willing to accept a situation where the agents moved out and the space was available for others.
Trump has not visited Trump Tower since he was inaugurated. His wife, first lady Melania Trump, and their son Barron lived there for several months but relocated to Washington in early June.
Still, the Secret Service treats Trump Tower as the president’s permanent home and has a full-time detail to protect it.
Experts said the Secret Service will have a presence inside the building if Trump or his family members visit, as their personal security details would remain in close proximity.
A Secret Service official said Thursday that the agency could compensate at other times by stationing more agents at standing posts in various locations throughout the building.
But, experts said, the lack of a nearby command post could make the situation less safe in an emergency.
“It’s a security deficiency that has to be resolved,” said a former Secret Service official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. “It’s like having the quarterback of the football game actually being located in a different stadium than where the game is being played.”
Information for this article was contributed by Jonathan O’Connell, Julie Tate, Drew Harwell and Amy Brittain of The Washington Post.