COLUMBIA, S.C. — A group of top congressional leaders has recommended that Republican candidate Nikki Haley receive protection from the U.S. Secret Service after reporting a growing number of threats during her presidential campaign, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
The leadership committee voted to grant the protective details after considering the severity of the threats and reviewing national polling data, the person said.
The recommendation has been forwarded to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who will make the final decision. The Secret Service already has several standby security teams and the protective detail could be sent out to protect the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador on the same day the clearance is approved, the person said.
The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the security plan and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
The Secret Service is required by law to protect presidential and vice presidential candidates and their families for 120 days after the general election. However, the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged in its 2024 budget summary that recent requests for candidate protections came earlier than in the past.
Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump already enjoy such protection. It is also allowed for major party presidential candidates, a power granted after the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
Haley, who has not provided details about the threats she says she faces, filed for protection earlier this month, telling The Wall Street Journal that there had been “several issues” related to security during her years-long campaign. Protesters are often present at her campaign events, including a rally Thursday evening in Dallas where more than a dozen people were escorted from the audience after outbursts during her remarks.
Haley has also said her home in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, was the target of a “swatting” hoax in December, one of two such incidents in recent weeks, according to police records.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press” earlier this month, Haley said officers “pulled guns” and pointed at her elderly parents and a caregiver in December after police received a call about a suspected crime at the home. According to police reports, a caller “reported that he had shot his girlfriend” inside the home.
Haley described the incident as a “terrible situation.” Neither she nor her adult son, Nalin, were home at the time. Haley’s husband is on a South Carolina Army National Guard mission in Africa.
“It endangered law enforcement, it endangered my family and, you know, it was not a safe situation,” Haley said of the incident.
Another call came on New Year’s Day, when police reported a caller said she “just shot her daughter and is going to shoot herself,” according to police records. Officers arrived at the home and spoke with Haley, who said she had spoken with the head of the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, as well as the Charleston County sheriff.
Haley has spent months traveling with personal security, which has become more visible at recent events, often flanking her just offstage as she speaks and greets supporters afterward.
Other candidates, including independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have requested Secret Service protection during this election cycle but have been denied.
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Balsamo reported from Washington.
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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP