The office of Vice President J.D. Vance said he was "unaware" that Secret Service raised the water level of an Ohio river so his family could go kayaking.
"The Secret Service often employs protective measures without the knowledge of the vice-president or his staff, as was the case last weekend,” a spokesperson said.
The vice president, an Ohio native, took his family kayaking down a tributary of the Ohio River for his 41st birthday earlier this month.
The leftist Guardian newspaper was first to report that Vance requested an increase in the outflow from Caesar Creek Lake, which feeds into the Little Miami River.
The river's elevation increased more than two feet around August 2, at the same time that the lake's elevation dropped, according to public geological data.
The Guardian's report cited an anonymous source that claimed Vance's team wanted "ideal kayaking conditions," but the outlet said it could not verify the claim.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in Louisville, Kentucky, said Secret Service made the request for safety reasons -- but Democrats seized on the report, accusing the vice president of making extravagant demands at taxpayer expense even as the White House and Republicans in Congress make drastic cuts to public spending.
"Outrageous! Must be why he wasn’t available to meet about his Big Bonanza for Billionaires Bill which will devastate Ohio manufacturing jobs and our rural hospitals. The Army Corps of Engineers should share records with relevant committee of jurisdiction in Congress," said Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur.
The Secret Service has since confirmed that Vance had no involvement in the decision.
“These decisions were made solely by agents during our standard advance planning process and did not involve the Office of the Vice President," the Secret Service said.
Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, said the river was too shallow for agents to navigate safely, causing a boat to run aground during a scouting trip by Secret Service and local authorities. The Army Corps of Engineers was asked to increase the water flow to accommodate the motorized boats used by security.
Eugene Pawlik, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps, characterized the request as routine and said it did not have an adverse impact on water levels upstream or downstream.
“The Secret Service request did not fall outside our normal operating parameters,” said Pawlik.
