In an old episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry Seinfeld’s guest was then-President Obama. Seinfeld arrived at the White House in a vintage Corvette, ostensibly intending to take Obama out somewhere for coffee and a bite to eat. They drove to the gate of the White House grounds, where the security officer on duty made a show out of refusing to let them go out. So they shot the remainder of that episode in and around the White House.
Ultimately, I’m not surprised that they didn’t go out on the town like that. It seemed (to me) like it would have been a very large security risk: the US President, traveling the city in an unarmored vehicle, on an unsecured route, with the nearest armed security personnel in separate vehicles.
But what I’m wondering is whether the Secret Service actually had the authority to prevent him from leaving the grounds like that, or whether they could only strongly advise against it. Anybody know?
Could a sitting president simply walk out of the White House and start to head down Pennsylvania Ave.? Sure, after all the Secret Service ultimately works for the president. What would really happen? I’m guessing a senior member of the secret service would strongly try to dissuade the president, explaining the risks involved, but failing that a contingent of agents would surround the president as he walks and provide as much protection as they can. I doubt a sitting president would be ignorant enough to take that kind of risk after being told what might happen to him/her.
I saw that episode and enjoyed the part where President Obama and Jerry are sitting in the White House break room (which looks like any other corporate break room) chit-chatting over their Folger’s, while there are a pair of staffers in the background just going about their business…as if the President of the United States and a major entertainment personality aren’t sitting at the next table.
I agree the President could probably do whatever s/he wanted against the strong advisement of the Secret Service, but I doubt they have the authority to detain the President to prevent them from doing something risky.
I remember President Bush liked to go mtn biking, and the only place secure enough for that was on his own ranch in Texas. It would suck to be President and not be able to go outside for a bike ride, run, or walk whenever you want and have to do those things inside on a treadmill or stationary bike…pretty much for the rest of your life.
Why for the rest of your life? Sure, Presidents get lifetime protection, but I don’t see where they’re going to be restricted from doing anything by the agents after they’ve left office. Heck, Bush the elder went skydiving on his 90th birthday.
Not “restricted” in the sense of authoritatively disallowed - but rather, in the logistical sense of an ex-President being cognizant of what might happen if he goes casually strolling in public without any security precautions at all - and wisely deciding to abstain.
Presumably the President could even decline a pedestrian escort then?
That isn’t universally true; Jimmy Carter lives in the same two bedroom ranch in Plains, GA that he’s owned since 1961, and he and Rosalynn walk around town with a minimal Secret Service escort. Obama was seen post-presidency enjoying some windsurfing with Richard Branson and hobnobbing with locals while getting coffee, so while their is obviously an elevated need for security around him (apparently he still gets death threats by people who can’t get over themselves) he still manages to get out and have a bit of fun now and again. Not every ex-president is just sitting around making paintings of dogs.
As for a sitting president, they aren’t prohibited from doing any legal activity like walking around outside or shooting hoops with some fans but the obvious security concerns means that the Secret Service Protective Service Detail has to maintain a pretty tight perimeter surveillance and do some level of screening on the people in the immediate proximity of their principals (the President, Vice-President, and families). This means that impromptu public activities are challenging and risky, so the Secret Service advises the President but absent of an immediate threat cannot force the President to do or not do anything.
The Jerry Seinfeld visit was obviously a skit because virtually nobody can just “drop by” the White House, and the Secret Service would strongly object to a private citizen driving the President around in an unprotected vehicle on public roads, but if the President said, “I’m going to go on a car ride with my favorite comedian so he can make a video for his YouTube.com channel,” the response wouldn’t be a hard objection but rather planning for how to plan that out to minimize risk. Presidents often go out in public to boost for fellow political figures and of course for their own campaigns and that is a much greater challenge given the large number of people who can’t really be screened or kept at a safe distance.
But snowthx seemed to imply that an ex-President would be restricted in the same way that a current President would, and that’s simply not true. Heck, an ex-Pres can decline SS protection, like Nixon did.
Tony Bourdain hosted President Obama at an outdoor cafe in Vietnam. They sat there enjoying beers while locals sat right next to them. If that isn’t a security risk I don’t know what is! Of course, it could have been filmed on the sound stage where they did the Moon landings.
I was suggesting a bike ride or a run - which would mean multiple miles on a linear course - probably very hard to secure. Not the same as walking over to the local coffee shop, where a perimeter can be established.
As I stated, the Secret Service cannot prevent/restrict a President from doing anything, but they can strongly advise them from doing something risky and ending up like the Prime Minister of Sweden, Olof Palme:
Despite being Prime Minister, Palme sought to live as ordinary a life as possible. He would often go out without any bodyguard protection, and the night of his murder was one such occasion. Walking home from the Grand Cinema with his wife Lisbeth Palme on the central Stockholm street of Sveavägen, close to midnight on 28 February 1986, the couple was attacked by a lone gunman. Palme was fatally shot in the back at close range at 23:21 CET. A second shot wounded Mrs Palme.
This is quite silly. It couldn’t have been on the sound stage where they faked the Moon landings. Stanley Kubrick had that dismantled and destroyed right before he launched Discovery into orbit so he could film 2001: A Space Odyssey in space.
To be fair - PotUS sitting at the next table is pretty much a day-in day-out thing for White House staffers, along with world leaders, celebrities, and all sorts of other notable people.
The question is how much freedom does the Secret Service have to protect the President from himself. As an extreme example they walk into the Oval Office as the President is about to hang himself. He tells them to back off. Can they still take action to save the President’s life despite his order?
“Can” meaning with legal authority to disobey the President.
Based upon a cursory viewing of holodeck-focused episodes, that would be even riskier than letting the president walk unaccompanied around Times Square.
