{"id":45873,"date":"2025-08-08T04:45:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T09:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=45873"},"modified":"2025-08-08T04:45:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T09:45:40","slug":"jd-vance-went-kayaking-for-his-birthday-secret-service-had-the-river-level-raised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=45873","title":{"rendered":"JD Vance went kayaking for his birthday. Secret Service had the river level raised."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Vice President JD Vance<\/a>\u2019s security detail had an Ohio river\u2019s water level raised last weekend to accommodate a kayaking trip he and his family took to celebrate his 41st birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Secret Service said it requested the increased waterflow for the Little Miami River, first reported<\/a> by The Guardian, to ensure motorized watercraft and emergency personnel \u201ccould operate safely\u201d while protecting the Republican vice president, whose home is in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But critics immediately blasted the action as a sign of the vice president\u2019s entitlement, particularly given the Trump administration\u2019s focus on slashing government spending<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard W. Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said on X that \u201cit\u2019s outrageous for the Army corps of engineers to spend taxpayer money to increase water flow in a river so @VP can go canoeing when budget cuts to the National Park Service<\/a> have severely impacted family vacations for everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Corps of Engineers declined to address any financial impact of raising the river. Spokesman Gene Pawlik said the agency\u2019s Louisville District temporarily increased outflows from the Caesar Creek Lake in southwest Ohio into the Little Miami \u201cto support safe navigation of U.S. Secret Service personnel.\u201d He said the move met operational criteria and fell within normal practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was determined that the operations would not adversely affect downstream or upstream water levels,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cDownstream stakeholders were notified in advance of the slight outflow increase, which occurred August 1, 2025.\u201d Vance\u2019s birthday was on Aug. 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vance spokesman Taylor Van Kirk said the vice president was unaware the river had been raised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Secret Service often employs protective measures without the knowledge of the Vice President or his staff, as was the case last weekend,\u201d she said via text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sprawling 2,830-acre Caesar Creek Lake has an unlimited horsepower designation and five launch ramps, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources website. A marina, campground and lodge are also located on site. The department provided two natural resources officers to assist the Secret Service with the Vance event, spokesperson Karina Cheung said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vance family has already become accustomed to certain accommodations being made as they move about the world<\/a>. During a recent trip to Italy, the Roman Colosseum was closed to the public so that his wife, Usha, and their children could take a tour, sparking anger among some tourists. The Taj Mahal also was closed to visitors during the Vance family\u2019s visit to India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such special treatment isn\u2019t reserved for one political party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Democratic Vice President Al Gore, then a presidential candidate, paddled down the Connecticut River for a photo opportunity in 1999, utility officials had opened a dam and released 4 billion gallons of water to raise the river\u2019s level. That request, too, came after a review of the area by the Secret Service \u2014 and Gore also experienced political pushback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gore\u2019s campaign said at the time that he did not ask for the water to be released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Vice President JD Vance\u2019s security detail had an Ohio river\u2019s water level raised last weekend to accommodate a kayaking trip he and his family took to celebrate his 41st birthday. The U.S. Secret Service said it requested the increased waterflow for the Little Miami River, first reported by The Guardian, to ensure motorized watercraft and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":45874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5506,29668,1830,3730,34277],"class_list":["post-45873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-birthday","tag-jd-vance","tag-ohio","tag-raise","tag-water-level"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45875,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45873\/revisions\/45875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}