Secret Service bids to buy jet skis for Trump family protection during Mar-a-Lago stays

By Christine Stapleton

The Palm Beach Post

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The U.S. Secret Service wants two new jet skis to join the gun boats that already patrol the Intracoastal waterway when President Donald Trump and the first family visit Mar-a-Lago.

“The First Family is very active in water sports,” the agency wrote in a memo posted by the agency on a government bid website. “Several family members and their guests participate in open water activities for which the USSS Special Agent Rescue Swimmers are responsible.”

Agents have paid out of pocket to rent jet skis “to be near our protectees in various water environments,” according to the memo. The agents are later reimbursed. The agency’s rescue swimmers have also protected President Barack Obama and his family on their vacations to Hawaii and the Bush family while at their home in Kennebunkport, Maine, according to the memo.

Although the president has not been seen boating or swimming at his private club, that stretches from the ocean to the Intracoastal, his son Donald Trump Jr. often posts pictures on social media of himself fishing with children while visiting Mar-a-Lago. Ivanka Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, has also posted fishing photos on Instagram.

According to the bid documents, the agency wants to buy two 4 stroke, 4 cylinder 1498cc Kawasaki jet skis and a dual trailer. The jet skis will be stored at a training center in Maryland and flown to Palm Beach before the president’s visits.

The bid was posted on Monday. The deadline to submit quotes is 10 a.m. Sept. 18.

Trump has made 25 presidential visits to Mar-a-Lago. He is expected to return for the 2019-2020 winter season on Thanksgiving.