In the Wake of the Trump Assassination Attempt, Calls Intensify for Secret Service Protection for Kennedy

The Kennedy Beacon

In the hours after the Trump assassination attempt, key figures have stepped up, calling for Secret Service protection for presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

As reported in The Kennedy Beacon, the Kennedy campaign has been asking the Biden administration for such protection, afforded to numerous previous candidates, for months. But for months the administration, via the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has denied those requests.

This, despite a plethora of previously unreported ominous threats against Kennedy, as documented by Paul Bond in Newsweek on July 12. 

And, while it might seem like it happened during a different election cycle, remember Adrian Paul Aispuro? He’s the man who on September 15 showed up in front of the historic Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, where Kennedy was delivering a campaign speech. He carried several weapons and impersonated a Federal Marshal, demanding to see Kennedy himself.

The man was immediately arrested by Kennedy’s private security team, as reported by the Beacon.

To this day, little is known about Aispuro, but the incident, and other bizarre and scary threats against Kennedy, were and continue to be ignored by DHS and the Biden administration.

Following the Trump assassination attempt, Rep. Thomas Massie, R - Kentucky, was among the first to renew the call, writing on X, “It’s long past time for Biden to put pettiness aside and grant Secret Service protection to @RobertKennedyJr.”

On July 14, New York Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican, and Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat, told the press they plan to introduce a bipartisan bill that would provide “enhanced Secret Service protection” for President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“Last night’s attempted assassination of former President Trump was a dark moment in our nation’s history. As reports continue to emerge, it’s clear that more protection is needed for all major candidates for president,” Torres and Lawler said in a joint statement.

As reported in The Hill, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) 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 Hill also reported that conservative activist Charlie Kirk called it “unacceptable” that Kennedy’s requests have been denied.

Last month, on the anniversary of his father’s assassination in 1968, Kennedy argued that he was more at risk than other candidates due to his family history. Kennedy’s uncle John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

As reported by Politico, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, also wrote on X that the federal government should “immediately provide secret service protection” to Kennedy. 

And Arizona Democrat, Rep. Ruben Gallego, wrote on X: “We must enhance Secret Service protection for all major presidential candidates, including Robert Kennedy, Jr.”

Without protection provided by DHS, the Kennedy campaign has been forced to pay a private security firm roughly $3 million to date, as reported by Politico.

The 2024 election is less than four months away. Blake Fleetwood, writing in February in the Beacon, noted how unprecedented it is that the DHS continues to deny Kennedy Secret Service protection. Fleetwood lists other examples of early Secret Service protection, below:

• Senator Barack Obama received protection 18 months, 551 days, before election day 2012, at the request of Senator Dick Durbin.

• Donald Trump and Ben Carson got protection in November 2015, a year before the election.

• Herman Cain got protection almost a year before the 2012 election.

• Senators John Kerry and John Edwards each received protection in February 2004, nine months before the election.

• Bob Dole was offered protection in March 1996, eight months before the election.

• Pat Buchanan got protection in February 1996, nine months, 250 days, before the election.

• Bill Clinton received protection in February 1992 after the New Hampshire primary, eight months before the general election.

• Pat Robertson got it in December 1987, about 11 months before the election, before any of the 1988 primaries.

• Jesse Jackson got protection in November, a year before the 1988 election.

• Walter Mondale got protection nine months before the 1984 election.

• Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Mitt Romney all received protection in February and March 2012, about 10 months before Election Day

• Senator Walter Mondale got protection in January 1984, 10 months before the election.

• Ronald Reagan got protection in January 1980, 10 months before the election.