Gingrich Secret Service detail still costing taxpayers

Though Newt Gingrich has admitted that Mitt Romney is the likely Republican nominee, the former House speaker is still costing taxpayers thousands for his Secret Security detail, which his campaign will not give up, the Daily Caller reports.

In 2008, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan testified at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing that protection for Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton cost around $38,000 each at the time. Gingrich has at least three, but sometimes many more, agents protecting him on the trail, the Daily Caller reported.

But Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said the campaign has "no plans to change our relationship with the Secret Service," and that Gingrich should be allowed protection because he qualified for it in March.

“It’s not a waste of money,” Hammond said. “Going out and protecting candidates and making sure they can pursue their candidacy in an election without harm -- that’s exactly what we want to go on in this country.”