Did Hillary already have Secret Service protection prior to the 120 day rule of this election - under all the rights and perks of Bill’s Presidency?
Ex-Pres. and spouse receive lifetime protection.
Yes. This might be of interest; Hillary’s USSS protection is mentioned: Is the Secret Service responsible for keeping the president from getting drunk? - The Straight Dope
Oddly enough that rule changed under Bush. If she wins she may actually lose her lifetime protection.
No it won’t. First, the change under Clinton (not Bush) only applied to presidents after him, and it’s moot, because Obama changed it back to lifetime protection for ex-Presidents and spouses.
Of course, there’s got to be different levels of protection. I’m guessing once she became the Democratic nominee, they beefed up her detail. And once she becomes the President-elect, they’ll beef it up even more. From an article about Romney’s detail leaving after he lost:
According to Chapter 18, Section 3056(a), United States Code, the following are eligible for Secret Service protection (this is a partial list):
[ul]
[li]President (and President-Elect) and immediate family[/li][li]Vice-President (and VP-Elect) and immediate family[/li][li]Former Presidents[/li][li]Spouses of former Presidents, unless they marry again[/li][li]Children of former Presidents, until age 16[/li][li]Former Vice-Presidents, up to six months after they leave office[/li][li]Spouses of former Presidents, up to six months after the VP leaves office[/li][li]Children of former Presidents, until age 16 or six months after the VP leaves office[/li][li]Major Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, as determined by committee[/li][li]Spouses of major candidates, within 120 days of the election[/li][/ul]
If Clinton wins, she would get lifetime protection - and I am assuming Bill would keep his, even if he marries someone else.