XPost: alt.society.liberalism, alt.los-angeles, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics
Hunter Biden fled last week to South Africa for a luxury vacation — with round-the-clock Secret Service protection — avoiding a grueling deposition scheduled for this week in a California lawsuit.
California District Court Judge Herman Vera granted Hunter’s motion to
dismiss the case Thursday after the former first son claimed he was too
broke to continue suing former Trump staffer Garrett Ziegler and his
nonprofit Marco Polo.
But photographs show Hunter was already in Cape Town the day the case was dismissed, staying in a $500-a-night beachfront villa described on its
website as an “ultra-luxurious designer home with spectacular 180 degrees unobstructed views of the sea.”
Ziegler’s lawyers alleged to the court last week that Hunter had fled to
South Africa to potentially “avoid his deposition in this case,” which was
set for this week, after originally being planned for February.
“He was in South Africa before the judge even decided the case,” Ziegler
said Friday.
“That means he is assuming his daddy’s appointee is gonna rubber stamp
what he wants.”
Hunter and his South African-born wife Melissa Cohen were spotted walking around the high-end shopping district of Cape Town with their Secret
Service detail this week in photos provided to The Post by independent
reporter Laura Loomer.
$200,000 in legal costs
Ziegler will include the images in his next court filing seeking $200,000
in legal costs incurred after Hunter sued over him over Marco Polo’s
digitized version of his notorious “laptop from hell.”
The scandal-prone 55-year-old son of Joe Biden does not qualify for
statutory Secret Service protection, which only applies to former
presidents’ children aged under 16, per the Former Presidents Protection
Act (codified in 18 USC, Section 3056).
But Biden issued an executive memorandum before he left the presidency indefinitely extending Secret Service protection for his son, according to Trump administration sources.
Outrage at expenses
“While we can’t comment on the specifics of our protective means and
methods, we can confirm Mr. Biden is an authorized protectee of the US
Secret Service,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told The Post
on Friday.
Guglielmi would not confirm that 18 Secret Service agents have traveled to
Cape Town with Hunter.
But he said, “Our agents are trained, authorized and mandated by federal
law to provide security anywhere in the world for individuals under our protection.”
Loomer cites local sources who claim that Hunter is traveling with 18
agents — three shifts of four agents plus six backup agents — who are
staying at a nearby four-star hotel, collecting per-diem payments for
meals and renting two cars.
The cost to the taxpayer potentially would be a half-million dollars, at a
time when the Secret Service is stretched thin.
President Trump extended Secret Service protection to his four adult
children for six months after he left office in 2021, prompting heavy
criticism from Democrats and media outlets who complained about the
estimated cost of $1.7 million.
Ziegler says Hunter’s Secret Service special dispensation “should be
revoked because Hunter was not completely honest with the court.”
Hunter’s lawyers told the court last week that Ziegler’s counsel Jennifer Holliday is “despicable” because she questioned Hunter’s excuses for being unable to afford his legal fees.
Hunter claimed his paintings were no longer selling and that his home had
been rendered unlivable by the LA wildfires.
https://nypost.com/2025/03/15/us-news/hunter-biden-fled-for-south-africa- vacation-avoiding-lawsuit-deposition/
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