The 2024 presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. renewed calls for President Joe Biden to provide protection for the candidate.
Mr. Kennedy’s campaign manager Dennis Kucinich publicly called on President Biden to order Secret Service protection for Mr. Kennedy following the assassination of an Ecuadorian anti-corruption presidential candidate.
Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio who recently promised to get rid of corruption and lock up the country’s drug runners, was shot and killed at a political rally in Quito, the capital.
Mr. Villavicencio, 59, was killed on Aug. 9, less than two weeks before a special presidential election. He was known for speaking out against drug gangs, and while he wasn’t a front-runner, his death has caused increased concern about organized crime.
“The killing of Mr. Villavicencio proves how volatile the political climate has become,” Mr. Kucinich said in a press release sent to The Epoch Times. “Yesterday the FBI confronted a man who had threatened President Biden, an incident that led to the man being shot dead by government agents.”
Mr. Kucinich, a 16-year member of Congress, continued, “Mr. Kennedy has met all criteria for protection. The only conceivable reason he is being denied is because of a conscious decision by the White House to deny him security and [expletive] the consequences.”
Previous Calls for Protection
Late last month, Mr. Kennedy alleged the White House had denied his request for Secret Service protection for three months: “Since the assassination of my father in 1968, candidates for president are provided Secret Service protection,” Mr. Kennedy wrote on X, previously known as Twitter. “But not me.”
The Democrat candidate said the Biden administration has turned down his request and said Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reportedly told his campaign: “I have determined that Secret Service protection for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not warranted at this time.”
“Our campaign’s request included a 67-page report from the world’s leading protection firm, detailing unique and well-established security and safety risks aside from commonplace death threats,” said Mr. Kennedy, noting that it was his understanding that the “typical turnaround time for pro forma protection requests” is about two weeks.
