Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will receive Secret Service protection following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
"We are in a heightened and very dynamic threat," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said while announcing the news during a White House briefing Monday. "In light of this weekend's events, the President has directed me to work with the Secret Service to provide protection to Robert Kennedy Jr., both prior to and after the events of this past weekend."
Despite Kennedy being a long shot for the presidency, for nearly a year his campaign has cited numerous incidents in requesting Secret Service protection, which Mayorkas had denied each time. Those incidents include the separate arrests of a man who trespassed at Kennedy's Los Angeles home twice in one day, and when a man allegedly showed up to a Kennedy campaign event armed and impersonating a federal officer.
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The Secret Service is legally required to protect major presidential and vice presidential candidates identified by Mayorkas, but the Homeland Security secretary also has the "broad discretion" to extend protection to third-party candidates if they're polling at 20% or more of the Real Clear Politics National Average for 30 consecutive days. Kennedy is currently polling at around 9.4% according to the polling data.
Still, Kennedy has argued Secret Service protection has been given to candidates polling lower, and on the anniversary of his father's assassination in June, the independent candidate told Fox News his family history has put him at an elevated risk.
Kennedy's father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated when he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination in June 1968, and Kennedy's uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in November 1963.
Trump agreed with Kennedy's sentiment in a post on Truth Social earlier Monday, saying, "In light of what is going on in the world today, I believe it is imperative that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. receive Secret Service protection — immediately. Given the history of the Kennedy Family, this is the obvious right thing to do!"
Kennedy, who has been paying for private security, thanked the president for the new protections in a post on X Monday.
Thank you to President Biden for granting me Secret Service protection. And I am so grateful to Gavin deBecker & Associates for keeping me safe for the last 15 months of my Presidential campaign.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) July 15, 2024
In announcing the extended protection, Mayorkas also said there have been "adjustments" to security provided to President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump. And now that Trump has chosen Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, security protections will be extended to him, too.
The Secret Service has come under intense scrutiny for how its protocols could have allowed the incident to have occurred over the weekend.
The agency has said the building from which the gunman took to the roof and aimed at Trump was outside of their perimeter, so it was up to local law enforcement to sweep. But Pennsylvania State Police told Scripps News it wasn't responsible for securing the building or the property.
President Biden has ordered an independent review of the security at the rally and said the findings will be shared with the public.
