Biden orders Secret Service to protect RFK Jr. after attempt on Trump’s life

President Joe Biden has directed the U.S. Secret Service to protect independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the Homeland Security secretary said Monday.

Kennedy is a longshot to win Electoral College votes, much less the presidency. But his campaign events have drawn large crowds of supporters and people interested in his message. His campaign has been urging the president to provide him with Secret Service protection for months, and has sent multiple requests after various incidents.

In October, a man was arrested after trespassing twice in one day at Kennedy’s Los Angeles home, and a month earlier, an armed man accused of impersonating a federal officer was taken into custody outside a Kennedy campaign event.

Kennedy’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy, and his father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, were both assassinated.