Calls for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to get Secret Service protection were renewed Saturday following the attempted assassination of former President Trump at a weekend rally in Pennsylvania.
Kennedy, who is running for president against former President Trump and President Biden, said last year his request for Secret Service protection had been denied.
Repeatedly pointing to the assassination of his father — former Attorney General Robert Kennedy, the independent presidential candidate has argued he has an increased risk because of his family history. He is also the nephew of former President Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.
Shortly after the shooting at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., where the former president was injured and one attendee was killed, political figures from both sides of the aisle emphasized the need for Kennedy to receive Secret Service protection.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) on Saturday night called on the Biden administration to grant Kennedy’s request for protection.
“I encourage @POTUS to immediately provide secret service protection for@RobertKennedyJr,” Polis wrote on the social platform X.
The Secret Service is authorized to protect major presidential and vice presidential candidates and their spouses within 120 days of a general presidential election. The Homeland Security secretary, in consultation with an advisory committee of House and Senate leadership, determines which candidates are in that “major” category.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk called it “unacceptable” that Kennedy’s requests have been denied.
“Reminder, RFK Jr. needs Secret Service protection. ASAP. It’s completely unacceptable that it has been withheld, especially given his family history,” he wrote Saturday on X.
Former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer issued a similar statement, writing on X that the Biden administration should have provided Secret Service protection to Kennedy “a long time ago.”
In the wake of the shooting, Kennedy called on Americans to put aside political differences and pray for Trump.
“Now is the time for every American who loves our country to step back from the division, renounce all violence, and unite in prayer for President Trump and his family,” he said in a post on X.
Shots were fired Saturday night at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania, during which the former president said a bullet pierced his ear. The shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks by the FBI, and one spectator at the rally were killed. Two other attendees were critically injured, the U.S. Secret Service said.
Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Pittsburgh, said authorities have not yet identified a motive for the shooting.
In the hours that followed the shooting, Trump thanked the Secret Service and other law enforcement authorities “for their rapid response on the shooting.” He also expressed his condolences to the families of the individuals who were killed or injured in the incident.