Secret Service vacates Trump Tower command post in lease dispute with president’s company
The Secret Service has vacated its command post inside Trump Tower in Manhattan following a dispute between the government and President 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 worry 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 spokeswoman for the Trump Organization said the government should seek space in another location.
The Trump Organization was willing to accept a situation where the agents moved out and the space was available for others.
The U.S. military has separately agreed to lease space in Trump Tower for $130,000 a month
The Journal reported that the military was paying more for this unit than other renters had paid for similar units in the building.
In that case, however, the unit was not leased directly from Trump — but rather from Joel Anderson, a businessman who owns the space. In an interview Thursday, Anderson said that the government didn’t really try to negotiate a lower price.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sec...m=.619ea9137d1f
