President Joe Biden ordered the Secret Service to protect independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. days after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump prompted a chorus of politicians to call for protection for Kennedy.
In November 2015, one year before the 2016 presidential election, then-frontrunners for the Republican nomination Trump and Ben Carson received protection, while Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,in February 2016. Hillary Clinton already had Secret Service protection as a former first lady. Ahead of the 2008 presidential election, former Presidentreceived protection in May 2007, which the New York Times called “unusually early.