Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. addresses the Libertarian Party’s national convention in Washington, U.S., May 24, 2024.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will receive Secret Service protection at the direction of President Joe Biden as a result of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said 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.,” Mayorakas said at the White House during a daily briefing.
“Thank you to President Biden for granting me Secret Service protection,” Kennedy said on X.
Trump, who was shot at Saturday by a 20-year-old gunman during a rally in Pennsylvania, has urged the U.S. government to provide Secret Service protection to Kennedy, who had been repeatedly denied a Secret Service detail.
“Given the history of the Kennedy Family, this is the obvious right thing to do!” Trump wrote a post on the Truth Social app.
US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 15, 2024.
Samuel Corum | AFP | Getty Images
Kennedy’s father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-N.Y., was assassinated in June 1968 in Los Angeles, on the night he won the California and South Dakota Democratic presidential primaries.
Kennedy’s uncle, President John Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas in November 1963.
Kennedy security consultant Gavin deBecker told Politico over the weekend that his campaign had a request for Secret Service protection pending with the Department of Homeland Security.
“I am so grateful to Gavin deBecker & Associates for keeping me safe for the last 15 months of my Presidential campaign,” Kennedy said Monday on X.
This is developing news. Check back for updates.