Biden directs Secret Service to protect RFK Jr. after Trump backs candidate’s request: '$3 million to date'

15 July 2024

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday announced that President Joe Biden ordered Secret Service protection for Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to CNN.

The order comes after Donald Trump called the protection following the shooting that occurred at his Butler, Pennsylvania rally Saturday, leaving the former president injured, and one attendee dead.

"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.," Mayorkas said during a White House news briefing.

"Thank you, President Biden, for extending me Secret Service protection," the Independent candidate said in a statement, according to ABC News.

ABC reports Kennedy "also thanked his private security firm, Gavin de Becker & Associates, 'for keeping me safe for the past 15 months of my presidential campaign.'"

The president, ABC notes, called for Kennedy's protection "both prior to and after the events of this past weekend," Mayorkas said during the briefing.

Politico reports, "De Becker’s private security firm has been handling the campaign’s private security, costing the campaign about $3 million to date in addition to $2.6 million in outstanding debts, according to the latest federal financial disclosures."

CNN's full report is available at this link. ABC's report is here. Politico's report is here.

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