Biden orders Secret Service to protect Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after Trump assassination attempt

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The Biden administration announced Monday that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be protected by the Secret Service following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

"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.," said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a White House press briefing.

Mayorkas also said that both prior to and after the assassination attempt, the Secret Service enhanced Trump's protection based on the "evolving nature of threats to the former president.”

The announcement came after Trump joined calls for Kennedy to get Secret Service protection after he was himself a target of an assassination attempt.

"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," he wrote Monday on his Truth Social platform.

"Given the history of the Kennedy Family, this is the obvious right thing to do!" he added.

Kennedy’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas in November 1963. The president’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in June 1968 in Los Angeles, on the night he won the California and South Dakota Democratic presidential primaries.

CNN reported that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met Trump in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Monday and discussed “national unity” as the four-day Republican National Convention kicked off there.

The FBI has announced that it is investigating the shooting at Trump's Pennsylvania campaign rally as a "potential domestic terrorism act."

"Our counterterrorism division and our criminal divisions are working jointly together to determine the motive," Robert Wells, the executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch, told reporters.

President Joe Biden said Sunday that he directed the FBI to ensure that its probe is "thorough and swift."