The secretary made the announcement on July 15, two days after a failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), announced on July 15 that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will receive Secret Service protection moving forward.
“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.,” Mr. Mayorkas said.
The announcement was made at a White House press briefing with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Mr. Mayorkas said security protection will increase for the 2024 presidential candidates and for this week’s Republican National Convention (RNC) after Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump on July 13.
“Thank you to President Biden for granting me Secret Service protection,” he said. “And I am so grateful to Gavin deBecker & Associates for keeping me safe for the last 15 months of my Presidential campaign.”
Mr. Mayorkas said RNC security was ramped up. “We have steadily increased implementation of significant physical and technical enhancements at every protective venue in support of protectees, including miles of anti-scale fencing, screening, technology, and tactical support,” he said.
“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!” the former president said.
Previous Requests
Mr. Kennedy said on April 25 that a “number” of his siblings had asked President Biden to authorize his Secret Service protection, but that DHS had said he didn’t qualify. The most recent request came in late March.
Federal law indicates that it is the president and the Secretary of Homeland Security who have the “broad discretion” in authorizing Secret Service protection of presidential candidates.
Mr. Kennedy previously alleged that it was a “political” decision to deny his repeated requests for Secret Service protection.
“I worry about the safety of my family and the safety of bystanders if there happens to be a more serious incident,” he told reporters after a campaign stop in Des Moines, Iowa, in April.
His campaign has encountered security issues before. In September 2023, security personnel arrested an armed man impersonating a U.S. Marshal outside a campaign event in Los Angeles.
Just one month later, another armed man was arrested after twice attempting to break into Mr. Kennedy’s Los Angeles home. When he was released after the first incident and issued a restraining order, he returned to the candidate’s home and again tried to break in before authorities arrested him a second time.
Following Mr. Mayorkas’s fifth denial of Secret Service protection in April, Mr. Kennedy threatened to sue DHS. In a March 28 letter, the secretary said Mr. Kennedy’s protection was “not warranted at this time.”
Protection for Candidates
Gavin de Becker, whose firm provides private security for Mr. Kennedy, said last year that Secret Service protection is often issued to candidates before the 120-day window, pointing to former President Jimmy Carter giving future President Ronald Reagan and other GOP candidates security “long before the 1980 election.”
Mr. de Becker also noted that the Carter Administration provided Sen. Edward Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy’s uncle, with Secret Service protection 441 days before the 1980 election, “even though [Sen.] Kennedy hadn’t formally announced his candidacy” yet.
This was repeated by the Reagan administration in 1983 and 1987 when it provided security protection to Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson 362 days and 351 days before the 1984 and 1988 elections, the security expert said.
“Every administration for 55 years afforded early Secret Service protection to candidates who requested protection. [This] refusal is the sole outlier, making the Biden administration the only one to refuse a protection request,” Mr. de Becker added.
“The Secret Service has no role in determining who is to be considered a major candidate. The Secretary of the Homeland Security determines who qualifies as a major candidate and when such protection should commence … This determination is made in consultation with an advisory committee,” the agency wrote.
That advisory committee is comprised of the Speaker of the House, House Minority Whip, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, and one additional member chosen by the committee.
