US Marshals guard DeVos after tense nomination process

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Trump praises DeVos for her 'toughness' and 'genius'

Education secretary jokes with the president that, if asked, she'd 'probably' go through confirmation process again

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is being guarded by the agents from the U.S. Marshals Service after a bruising nomination process, Politico reported.

Drew J. Wade, a spokesman for the service, told the magazine that he is not aware of these agents guarding an education secretary in the past. The education secretary is traditionally guarded by a small security unit from the education department, the report said.

The report said that few other details are available about the security arrangement.

Despite her win, DeVos emerged bruised from her highly divisive nomination fight. Opposed by half the Senate, she faced criticism, even ridicule for lack of experience. At one point, she said some schools should have guns because of the threat of grizzly bears.

And there has been scathing opposition from teachers unions and civil rights activists over her support of charter schools and her conservative religious ideology.

President Trump accused Democrats of seeking to torpedo education progress. In a tweet before the vote, he wrote, "Betsy DeVos is a reformer, and she is going to be a great Education Sec. for our kids!" Pence tweeted later in the day that supporting DeVos was "a vote for every child having a chance at a world-class education."

In a separate development, DeVos announced Friday that a government website devoted to students with disabilities, which had been down for more than a week, has been restored and will be updated with input from interested parties. She also accused the previous administration of neglecting the website. The American Federation of Teachers disputed that contention.

The Associated Press contributed to this report