With President Barack Obama embarking on his mid-August tour of the midwest on Monday, the public got its first look at one of two $1.1 million armored buses that, as TPM first reported back in April, were recently purchased by the Secret Service and will be used on the campaign trail.
The bus is “an impenetrable-looking conveyance the size of a cross-country Greyhound, painted all in black, with dark tinted windows and flashing red and blue lights,” according to a Associated Press description.
But don’t worry, Republicans: you get one too. An identical bus was purchased by the Secret Service and will be made available to the eventual Republican presidential candidate, presumably once the politician is afforded Secret Service protection. The vehicles wouldn’t be exclusive to the campaign trail — they’ll also be useful for when the Secret Service transports dignitaries, according to the agency.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan told TPM the agency wasn’t getting into the details of the security and communications features of the vehicles. But he said that like the presidential limousine known as “The Beast,” the buses meet the standards for transporting the commander-in-chief.
Donovan told TPM back in April that the agency was “overdue for having this type of protective asset in our fleet” and that designing their own vehicle “really gave us a level of security which we don’t get when we lease a bus.”
Check out a wide-shot photo of the bus here.
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
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