HowStuffWorks: Why Does the Secret Service Protect a President's Adult Children?
Brendan Fischer is an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center and an expert of government transparency and ethics. He believes that the Trump family shouldn't use public funds to help earn profits for a private business.
"You want the president's kids to be safe," says Fischer, "but there are legitimate questions about how much taxpayers should be paying so the Trump family can travel around the world and advance their own personal financial interests.
When a person becomes the president, he or she is entitled to a 400k salary, as well as a hefty expense account -- and the benefits don't stop there!
There's also the mixed message sent when Donald Jr. and Eric Trump travel to make international business deals flanked by serious-looking dudes with earpieces and lapel pins.
"It could appear as though the trip is somehow sanctioned by the U.S. government or that the kids are there acting as emissaries of the president," says Fischer. "The fact that the Secret Service is present and providing security detail further contributes to the appearance that the Trump Organization is intertwined with the presidency of the United States."