President Donald Trump jumped into a White House press briefing on Tuesday, Jan. 20, to celebrate what he called a year of wins — complete with a handout for reporters listing “365 wins” to mark the anniversary of his inauguration.
The bullet points in Trump’s packet covered a wide range of issues. But as PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Elizabeth Landers flipped through the pages, one item stood out: #243 — a line claiming Trump “stripped notorious crackhead and grifter Hunter Biden of his taxpayer-funded Secret Service detail.”
The claim appears to refer to Trump’s March 2025 order ending Secret Service protection for former President Joe Biden’s two surviving children, Hunter Biden, 55, and Ashley Biden, 44.
Trump made the move after criticizing Hunter Biden’s security detail during a trip to South Africa. In a Truth Social post, Trump called it “ridiculous” and alleged Hunter had “as many as 18” agents assigned to him. Trump added, “Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection.”
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He also said Ashley Biden, “who has 13 agents,” would “be taken off the list” as well.
As for Trump’s description of Hunter as a “notorious crackhead and grifter,” it may be referencing Hunter Biden’s past legal troubles. In 2024, he was pardoned by his father following cases tied to illegal firearm possession while using illicit drugs and tax-related charges.
In the gun case, a Delaware jury found Hunter Biden guilty in July 2024 on three charges connected to unlawfully obtaining and possessing a firearm in 2018 while struggling with narcotics addiction.
Separately, Hunter Biden offered in September 2024 to plead guilty in the tax case, which alleged he failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes and instead spent the money on what prosecutors described as an “extravagant lifestyle,” including expensive hotels and cars, drugs, and more.
Trump’s move to end protection early for the Biden children also drew attention because he previously extended Secret Service protection for his own children for six months after leaving office during his first term. In September 2021, The Washington Post reported that protection for Trump’s four oldest children cost taxpayers about $1.7 million, citing spending documents.
Presidents have sometimes extended security details for close family members after leaving office. Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush also did so.
Trump’s “365 wins” handout included other claims as well, including that his administration released “troves of previously classified records” related to the assassinations of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, along with signing an executive order aimed at “dismantling censorship” and “safeguarding Second Amendment rights.”
