Secret Service and U.S. military engineers face review of Vance’s birthday to increase river water levels | JD Vance

USA Agent and US Army Engineers are facing scrutiny after California Senator Adam Schiff asks them to answer questions about the question Trump administration Recent decisions to change the water level of Ohio lakes to facilitate family boating trips JD Vance On his birthday.

The Secret Service said it requested changes to the outflow of Caesar Creek Lake in Ohio shortly before the vice president’s trip on August 2 so that his safety details could safely drive the Little Miami River, which was in trouble. this The Guardian reported the story for the first time last week.

The Secret Service also said Neither Vance nor his staff knew it had made a request.

In a letter from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Schiff suggested using funds to change the personal use of the lake, which might be inappropriate, saying he wanted information about the process and documents of the decision.

“The abuse of public water resources by the Vice President’s households is particularly offensive given the administration’s cuts to federal agencies that have damaged outdoor recreation opportunities for American families,” Schiff wrote.

The Guardian reported last week that Louisville’s military engineers have no unprecedented KentuckyPeople with jurisdiction in the area to modify outflows to suit public use – for example, for training for community river activities and emergency responders.

Regulations regarding so-called “bias” requests, or any changes to normal practice – require approval and documentation to justify the cause of bias. This process also ensures risks associated with any deviations (including flood risk or other environmental impacts).

USACE said in a statement last week Agent Requests “comply with the operating standards outlined in the Caesar Creek Lake Water Control Manual and do not require deviation from normal procedures”.

But in his letter, Schiff accused the Army leadership of improperly utilizing access to public services for personal use and abandoning standard documents as necessary to identify and demonstrate risks associated with bias.

“I therefore requested an explanation for this USACE action and promised not to use federal resources for such unreasonable and indifferent purposes,” Schiff wrote.

California Democrats also pointed out that the Trump administration’s “freckless release” of billions of gallons of water from California reservoirs is another situation in which the Army Corps carried out “suspicious abuse.” The alleged purpose was to release water in order to combat the Los Angeles fire, although the Army allegedly knew the release would not deliver it directly to Southern California.

Will Martin, Vance’s communications director, defended the canoe trip in a Breitbart article, saying Democrats were trying to “turn it into a story about elitism.” He accused the Democrats who criticized Vance for benefiting from public infrastructure for his birthday trip because he “didn’t know how normal families work” and the idea of family canoeing “is completely alien to them.”

“Left-wing media is desperate to smear Vice President Vance, who attacked his birthday for enjoying it with his wife and children,” Martin said.