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SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – The aftermath of the brutal beating of Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, brings to mind questions of how the speaker herself is protected.
Speaker Pelosi was not at her San Francisco home at the time of the attack on her husband; if she had been, she would have had a United States Capitol Police detail.
The speaker, though she is second in line for the presidency, does not get Secret Service protection.
So who does?
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According to its website, the U.S. Secret Service protects:
- The president
- The vice president
- The president-elect
- The vice president-elect
- Former presidents
- The spouses of former presidents, unless they marry someone else
- Children of former presidents until age 16
- Visiting foreign heads of state or government and their spouses traveling with them in the U.S., and other “distinguished foreign visitors” to the U.S.
- Major presidential and vice presidential candidates and their spouses within 120 days of a presidential election
- Individuals protected by executive order
- “National Special Security Events”
The Secret Service, originally under the U.S. Treasury Department when it was founded in 1865, also investigates financial crimes, such as the counterfeiting of currency, forgery or theft of Treasury checks, bonds and other securities, and credit, telecommunications, computer and identity fraud affecting federal financial institutions.
The Secret Service has been under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security since 2003.
