A top Trump transition aide blasted Politico on Monday for publishing a story he described as “wildly out of proportion” about the president-elect maintaining a private security detail in addition to U.S. Secret Service protection.
“Unfortunately, this seems part of the pattern for Politico,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller told reporters on a conference call.
“I think this morning’s story was just complete nonsense,” he added.
In a lengthy story published Monday, Politico noted that Trump has continued to surround himself with retired police officers and FBI agents at his post-election public events and may keep some members of his private security team around once he takes office on Jan. 20.
“It’s playing with fire,” one former Secret Service agent told Politico, adding that having a private security detail “increases the Service’s liability … creates greater confusion and it creates greater risk” for the president-elect.
Miller confirmed that Trump will “continue to be surrounded by longtime allies and advisers,” including his longtime director of security Keith Schiller, who has been “an absolutely fantastic ally who has been there both literally and figuratively to protect the president-elect.
“The main duties to protect the president-elect and vice president-elect is, of course, carried out by the Secret Service,” Miller said. “Of course they’re the ones who are in charge of the president-elect’s security.”
Politico did not respond to a request for comment.
