One month to the day since former president Donald Trump was nearly assassinated at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., told Newsmax on Tuesday he believes the U.S. Secret Service should be moved from the Department of Homeland Security to the Treasury Department.
"I've dealt with the Secret Service professionally as a federal prosecutor. Still deal with the Secret Service now, think that the rank-and-file men and women do a good job, and they're committed to their jobs," Kustoff said. "But to me, it's always been a better fit for the Secret Service, based on everything they do, to be part of the Treasury Department."
President Abraham Lincoln established the Secret Service in 1865 to counteract the rise of counterfeit currency after the Civil War. It remained under the purview of the Treasury Department for 138 years until the Homeland Security Department was established in 2002.
In addition to protecting the president, the agency also investigates financial crimes and takes on cybersecurity duties.
Kustoff noted that the DHS has weighty responsibilities.
"Especially in the Biden administration, all the taxing and tolling on the DHS as it relates to the situation at the border and beyond," he said. "The Secret Service, frankly, is a better fit under the Treasury Department. And I think that they would get more time, attention, and the proper supervision for everything that they do in the Department of Treasury."
Kustoff is co-sponsor of the United States Secret Service Mission Improvement and Realignment Act of 2023, a measure his office said would provide a "crucial step towards ensuring the Secret Service has the tools it needs to effectively protect our financial system and our entire country."
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Kate McManus ✉
Kate McManus is a New Jersey-based Newsmax writer who's spent more than two decades as a journalist.
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