Editors‘ Note:
This article was compiled and written by xAI’s Grok and reviewed by the human editors of Eat News.
In the wake of an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced on Monday that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will receive Secret Service protection.
The decision to grant Kennedy protection comes after Trump was shot at during the rally, with the shooter being killed by Secret Service agents. Mayorkas stated during a press briefing that the protection for Kennedy was directed by President Joe Biden “both prior to and after the events of this past weekend.”
Kennedy, who is running a distant third in national polls, has been vocal about the need for Secret Service protection, citing the history of assassinations within his family. Both his father, Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncle, John F. Kennedy, were assassinated in the 1960s.
The Secret Service is legally required to protect major party presidential and vice presidential candidates and their families 120 days out from a general election, but third-party candidates are treated on an as-needed basis. Kennedy’s campaign had been requesting Secret Service protection long before the attempt on Trump’s life.
The Department of Homeland Security acknowledged in its 2024 budget overview that recent requests for candidate protection were coming in earlier than in the past. The department also considers a candidate’s threat level, which it defines as “explicit threats of bodily harm to the candidate or indications of inappropriate behavior towards the candidate suggesting potential bodily harm.”
Trump, who has been named the official Republican presidential nominee, called for Kennedy to get Secret Service protection days after the assassination attempt, citing “what is going on in the world today.”
Kennedy met with Trump on Monday, hours before Republicans formally named Trump their presidential nominee. The meeting between the political rivals sparked speculation about a potential unity ticket, but Kennedy later dispelled those rumors.
The assassination attempt on Trump has led to an uptick in violent rhetoric, according to law enforcement officials. The Secret Service has enhanced Trump’s protection based on the “evolving nature of the threats to the former president” and his shift from presumptive nominee to nominee.
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’s 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.
With a famous name and a loyal base, Kennedy has the potential to do better than any third-party presidential candidate since Ross Perot in the 1990s. Both the Biden and Trump campaigns, who fear he could be a spoiler, bypassed the nonpartisan debate commission and agreed to a schedule that essentially left out Kennedy.
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