US Secret Service says it doesn’t give protection to presidential candidates until 120 days before an election
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday said that he has not received U.S. Secret Service protection after about three months, alleging that the White House has denied his request.
“Since the assassination of my father in 1968, candidates for president are provided Secret Service protection,” Mr. Kennedy wrote on Twitter. “But not me.”
The Democratic candidate said “the Biden Administration just denied our request,” adding that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reportedly told his campaign: “I have determined that Secret Service protection for Robert F Kennedy Jr is not warranted at this time.”
“Our campaign’s request included a 67-page report from the world’s leading protection firm, detailing unique and well established security and safety risks aside from commonplace death threats,” Mr. Kennedy added, noting that the “typical turnaround time for pro forma protection requests” is about two weeks.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Mr. Mayorkas, and other administration officials have not publicly commented on Mr. Kennedy’s statements on Friday. The Epoch Times has contacted DHS for comment.
According to the U.S. Secret Service website, the agency doesn’t provide protection to non-incumbent presidential candidates until 120 days before the general election. Under the Secret Service’s guidelines, Mr. Kennedy would qualify for the agency’s protection in July 2024.
During the 1968 presidential campaign, Mr. Kennedy’s father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated at a Los Angeles hotel. Officials have blamed communist sympathizer and pro-Palestinian activist Sirhan Sirhan for his death, but the younger Kennedy has long said that he believes other individuals were involved in his father’s death.
Before his death, Secret Service agents did not protect presidential candidates, while the federal agency had started protecting presidents who were in office after the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley. After the Kennedy assassination, Congress expanded the Secret Service’s duties to oversee the protection of presidential and vice presidential candidates, its website says.
