RFK Jr. To Now Get Secret Service Protection After Failed Trump Assassination Attempt

Last updated on August 7th, 2024 at 04:27 pm

President Joe Biden has directed the Department of Homeland Security to extend U.S. Secret Service protection to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy Jr. has been requesting U.S. Secret Service protection for months in his bid to unseat Biden. Those requests had been dismissed until this weekend, when Biden’s main Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump, was grazed by gunfire in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally on July 13.

“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,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced at a White House press briefing on Monday, July 15.

Fresh off surviving his own assassination, Trump bolstered Kennedy Jr.’s requests for a Secret Service detail.

“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!” Trump said in a post on his Truth social media platform just hours before Mayorkas’s announcement.

Kennedy Jr.’s father, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated on June 6, 1968. His uncle, President President John K. Kennedy, was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.

Kennedy Jr. expressed his gratitude for Trump’s statement supporting his appeal for Secret Service protection.

“It is a hopeful sign for our country when a political opponent calls for one’s protection. Maybe our country can unite after all,” Kennedy Jr. wrote in an X social media post on Monday.

Kennedy Jr. extended his thanks to President Biden following the White House announcement on 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.”

Kennedy Jr. had initially tried to unseat Biden through the Democratic Party’s primary process but switched to an independent campaign in October of last year.