RFK Jr. AGAIN asks Biden why he isn't getting Secret Service protection after armed man was arrested at a campaign stop - close to where his father was assassinated

Dennis Kucinich asked Biden to give RFK Jr a Secret Service detail'The threat level to our candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is increasing every day,' the campaign manager wrote to the presidentHe noted RFK's father and uncle were assassinated in the 1960s 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is again asking President Joe Biden to give him Secret Service protection after an armed gunman was arrested at his campaign event over the weekend – just two miles from where his father was assassinated in 1968.

‘The threat level to our candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is increasing every day. He is not the only one in danger — every person who attends a campaign event is at risk,’ Kennedy’s campaign manager Dennis Kucinich wrote to the president.

Kucinich, in his missive, referenced the armed gunman arrested over the weekend and the history of assassination of political figures. Kennedy’s father – Robert Kennedy – was shot in Los Angeles in 1968 and his uncle John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas in 1963.

Kennedy is challenging Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination. Biden leads by over 50 points in the polls.  But polls also show that voters are concerned that, at age 80, Biden might be getting too old to do the job.

Robert F Kennedy has again asked for Secret Service protection, he was speaking at a Hispanic Heritage Month event at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday night when an armed man tried to get inside

Kucinich, in his letter, noted the country still has scars from the political turmoil of the 1960s.

‘It is not hard to imagine the civil chaos and political disintegration that could ensue with the return of the kind of assassinations of public officials and presidential candidates that marred the 1960s,’ Kucinich wrote.

‘The American psyche still bears the scars of those devastating events. Together with the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., they sent America into a tailspin from which many believe the country has not yet recovered,’ he said.

Kucinich also noted that President Biden and his family know the importance of having federal protection.

‘This ever-present threat of violence is something you are well aware of given the security requirements for you and members of your family,’ he noted.

The Secret Service notes it ‘does not determine who qualifies for protection, nor is the Secret Service empowered to independently initiate candidate protection.’

The agency protects the major candidates for president and vice president, usually within 120 days of the election. Ironically, such measures were put into place after the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968.

‘Prior to this event, candidates and their families did not receive Secret Service protection,’ the agency noted.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden with their Secret Service details

The suspect was seen being arrested by police after claiming to be with Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s security team

The incident took place less than two miles from where RFJ’s dad was shot on June 5, 1968. Kennedy Sr. died a day later at the Good Samaritan Hospital

Dennis Kucinich (left), the former Congressman from Ohio who now serves at Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s campaign manager, wrote to Biden asking for protection for his candidate

A president can order Secret Service protection for any person he chooses. Former President Donald Trump, in his final days in office, extended the post-presidency Secret Service protection to his four adult children and two of their spouses.

Only former presidents and their spouses get Secret Service protection for life. Any minor-aged children would get protection until they were 16 although most presidents extend protection for their minor children until they are out of college. Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush all did this for their daughters.

Some presidential candidates are given protection early in the primary process, particularly if they are subject to a number of threats.

Barack Obama was one of them. He was approved for protection in May 2007,  marking the first time in history a presidential candidate received Secret Service protection almost two years prior to the presidential election.

His rival in the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton, already had Secret Service protection due to her status as a former first lady.

Obama, the first major black presidential candidate, had received numerous death threats.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, also a major black candidate for president, drew early Secret Service protection during his campaigns for the White House in 1984 and 1988 because of threats.

It’s not just the president that can approve a candidate getting a Secret Service detail.

The secretary of Homeland Security – the federal department that houses the Secret Service – can also approve federal protection with the permission of an advisory committee that includes the Speaker of the House, the House Minority Whip, the Senate Majority Leader, the Senate Minority Leader, and one additional member chosen by the committee.

Some presidential contenders reject a protective detail, which can hamper a candidate’s movements.

In the 2008 presidential campaign, John McCain, who was the Republican nominee, resisted having federal protection until the last possible moment, calling it an ‘inconvenience’ and a ‘waste of taxpayers’ money.’

Eight months before the election, he bowed to the ‘inevitable’ as he called it and accepted the detail.

A full Secret Service detail usually involves a long motorcade – a lead car, a car with the candidate, a decoy car, cars with extra agents and protection, and an ambulance. Dozens of agents secure the candidate and provide security at events, putting members of the crowd through scanners and monitoring threats.

Other presidential contenders hire private security through their campaign committees.

Others have security details because of their current roles. Gov. Ron DeSantis, ro example, has a protective detail through his job as governor of Florida but those are state police and not federal agents.

Currently, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, along with their spouses, have a fulltime Secret Service detail. Biden’s two grown children and seven grandchildren, as well as Harris’s two stepchildren, also have protection.

Kennedy had a scare on Friday night when he was speaking at a Hispanic Heritage Month event at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, when an armed man tried to get to him.

Carrying a US Marshal badge on a lanyard, a man attempted to identify himself as a member of Kennedy’s security team.

He was seen wearing two shoulder holsters with loaded pistols with spare ammunition.

The incident took place less than two miles from the former site of The Ambassador Hotel, 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, where RFK was shot and killed in June 1968 after winning the Democratic California presidential primary.

Barack Obama at the Iowa State fair in August 2007 during the 2008 presidential campaign; a Secret Service agent is visible behind him; Obama got early protection due to threats

RFK Jr’s uncle was assassinated in 1963: Above President John F Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie Connally ride together in a convertible limousine in Dallas in 1963 shortly before shots were fired

The property was later redeveloped as the Robert F. Kennedy Schools after the hotel was demolished in 2005.

Kennedy shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, his thanks for the quick-thinking actions of those around him who were able to intercept the suspect.

‘I’m very grateful that alert and fast-acting protectors from Gavin de Becker and Associates (GDBA) spotted and detained an armed man who attempted to approach me at my Hispanic Heritage speech at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles tonight,’ Kennedy wrote.

‘The man, wearing two shoulder holsters with loaded pistols and spare ammunition magazines was carrying a U.S. Marshal badge on a lanyard and beltclip federal ID. He identified himself as a member of my security detail.

‘Armed GDBA team members moved quickly to isolate and detain the man until LAPD arrived to make the arrest. I’m also grateful to LAPD for its rapid response.

RFK Jr. added he hoped that he would be given Secret Service protection after the incident.

‘I am the first presidential candidate in history to whom the White House has denied a request for protection.’

RFK – a longshot for the 2024 Democratic nomination as he trails Biden 76 percent to 9 percent in the poll – lamented last month after the Biden administration denied his request for Secret Service Protection.