The Secret Service is ending its protection for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. because the political scion suspended his presidential campaign, law-enforcement sources say.
President Biden, 81,had instructed the protective agency to provide security for Kennedy, 70, last month after the failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, 78.
Kennedy had publicly and privately lobbied for Secret Service protection for months, citing various security scares and suggesting that political motivations were behind the delay in his getting it.
At one point, Kennedy’s legal team claimed to have received evidence of 34 instances of threats or concerning screeds against him, Newsweek reported. Kennedy’s uncle President John F. Kennedy and father Bobby Kennedy were both assassinated in the 1960s.
Then Friday, RFK Jr., a onetime independent presidential hopeful, effectively bowed out of the race, announcing that he was “suspending” although “not terminating” his White House bid.
The environmental lawyer revealed plans to yank his name off the ballot in about 10 battleground states and also endorsed Trump, joining him at an Arizona rally Friday.
Technically, Kennedy’s name is still being left on ballots in less competitive states, while he is widely expected to join Trump again on the campaign trail at some point in the future.
The Secret Service typically gives protection to the president, vice president, their immediate family members, former presidents, visiting heads of state, children of former presidents until the age of 16, former first ladies and top presidential candidates.
When candidates drop out, it is standard procedure for the Secret Service to at least scale back protection, if not eliminate it altogether.
The Secret Service has been in hot water over the assassination attempt against Trump during his July 13 rally in Butler, Pa., where a would-be killer’s bullet grazed his right ear.
Suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to crawl across a shed roof and get about 130 yards away from the former president. Firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed and two other crowd-goers — David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74 — were severely injured in the attack.
Kimberly Cheatle ended up resigning as Secret Service director during a wave of political pressure. At least five officials at the protective agency also were moved to administrative duty, meaning that they can’t be involved in operational planning, because of the debacle, ABC News reported.
There are now multiple probes under way into what transpired July 13, including from a newly minted bipartisan House task force, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General.
The Secret Service and Kennedy campaign sources did not immediately respond to Post requests for comment Sunday.
