Did three former U.S. presidents -- Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton -- reject Secret Service detail assigned under the Trump administration for being "DEI hires"? No, that's not true: The rumor was first published on a self-described satire website. No professional journalistic organization reported on any such claim.
The rumor originated from an article (archived here) published on March 30, 2025, by dailyskrape.com. It opened:
Obama, Clinton, Biden Say No Thanks to DEI Security Details.
The article continued:
In a dramatic twist of irony, the Secret Service's attempt to dismiss agents hired under Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives has been thwarted by an Obama-era judge, sources have confirmed.
The agency, which had been planning to return to a merit-based hiring system, was stopped in its tracks by a court ruling deeming the layoffs illegal.
In response, President Trump took a mischievous approach by reassigning these agents to provide personal security for former presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden. However, the trio quickly declined the service, citing a preference for agents selected through traditional, merit-based criteria--specifically requesting male agents with robust resumes.
This is what it looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: screenshot of dailyskrape.com)
The website that published the story, however, was a self-described satire page. Its About section (archived here) reads:
Welcome to The Daily Skrape, where reality gets a wedgie and dignity is on permanent vacation. We're the news's cheeky cousin, delivering a daily dose of satire with a side of absurdity.
Our mission? To poke fun at the pompous, skewer the self-serious, and ensure that no topic is safe from our satirical scalpel.
The Terms of Service section (archived here) continued:
WE AND THE OTHER COMPANY ENTITIES MAKE NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY THAT THE SITE (OR ANY PART THEREOF) IS OR WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE OR ERROR-FREE...
Later, on August 6, 2025, the claim resurfaced (archived here) on the internet as a meme.
No credible media organization reported the purported story: Searches across Google News and Yahoo News (archived here) returned no relevant matches.
