Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will no longer receive Secret Service protection after he announced on Aug. 23 that he was suspending his campaign in 10 battleground states and urging voters in those states to support former President Donald Trump instead.
“Mr. Kennedy no longer has USSS protection,” Kennedy’s press secretary, Stefanie Spear, told The Epoch Times on Aug. 25.
Anthony Guglielmi, Secret Service chief of communications, confirmed that Kennedy “is no longer a protectee given he suspended his campaign,” in an Aug. 25 statement to The Epoch Times.
Kennedy was denied Secret Service protection five times before the Department of Homeland Security granted it shortly after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13.
Thomas Michael Crooks was identified by authorities as the gunman. Trump’s ear was grazed by the gunfire, former fire chief Corey Comperatore was killed, and two others were injured.
Following the attack, Trump said that Kennedy should “immediately” get Secret Service protection.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Given the history of the Kennedy Family, this is the obvious right thing to do!”
On July 15, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas authorized Kennedy’s Secret Service protection.
“We are in a heightened and very dynamic threat environment. The United States’ Secret Service, we—including the FBI and our other partners across the federal government—take the threats very seriously and adjust security measures as warranted, maintaining the safety and security of the president, the former president in their campaign events is one our most vital priorities,” Mayorkas said.
“In light of the weekend’s events, the president has directed me to work with the Secret Service to provide protection for Robert Kennedy Jr.”
It’s standard procedure for the Secret Service to end protection when a presidential candidate drops out of the race. Kennedy said that he has suspended his campaign in 10 battleground states but will be on the ballot in the other 40 states during his Aug. 23 address. He encouraged voters to support him in states where he would not be considered a “spoiler” and detract backing for their Trump or Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.
In April 2023, Kennedy announced his candidacy to challenge President Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
After encountering multiple roadblocks from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and asserting that the organization was preventing other candidates from competing, Kennedy chose to run as an independent in October 2023.
Earlier this year, the DNC announced the creation of a team to counter third-party and independent presidential candidates.
It hired a veteran Democrat strategist to spearhead an aggressive communication plan to combat Kennedy, independent Cornel West, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein.
The DNC has backed lawsuits in multiple states designed to prevent Kennedy from being on the ballot. Last week alone, he appeared in Pennsylvania and New York to testify in ballot access hearings.
Kennedy said that the repeated denials for Secret Service protection were “political” and part of a trend of federal agencies being “weaponized to serve a political agenda.”
Kennedy said his campaign had to spend millions of dollars on private security before being granted Secret Service protection.
Authorities making the decisions would rather he “spend money on protection than spending it on field organization or advertising,” Kennedy said.
Federal law indicates that the president and the Secretary of Homeland Security have the “broad discretion” to authorize Secret Service protection of presidential candidates.
Kennedy’s campaign has encountered a number of security issues. In September 2023, security personnel arrested an armed man impersonating a U.S. Marshal outside a campaign event in Los Angeles.
One month later, another armed man was arrested after twice attempting to break into Kennedy’s Los Angeles home. When the man was released after the first incident under a restraining order, he returned to the candidate’s home and again tried to break in before authorities arrested him a second time.
Following Mayorkas’s fifth denial of Secret Service protection in April, Kennedy threatened to sue the DHS.
“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.
De Becker also noted that the Carter administration provided Sen. Edward Kennedy, Kennedy’s uncle, with Secret Service protection 441 days before the 1980 election, “even though [Sen.] Kennedy hadn’t formally announced his candidacy.”
“The Secret Service has no role in determining who is to be considered a major candidate. The Secretary of 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’s website reads.
That advisory committee comprises the speaker of the House, House minority whip, Senate majority leader, Senate minority leader, and one additional member chosen by the committee.
Kennedy said he will now be “actively” campaigning for Trump. The Kennedy campaign did not provide further comment about the removal of Secret Service protection, and it is not known if he will retain Gavin de Becker & Associates again to provide security while on the campaign trail.
DHS did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.
