Donald Trump said he believes that the federal government has yet to grant him Secret Service protection because he is a Republican presidential candidate, lamenting that the agency doesn’t “give a shit.”
The real estate mogul told The Hill that the large crowds he draws warrants a Secret Service detail, noting that President Obama was given Secret Service protection earlier than usual during the 2008 campaign. The White House granted Obama a detail in May 2007 in part due to the large crowds he attracted.
“I want to put them on notice because they should have a liability,” Trump told The Hill. “Personally, I think if Obama were doing as well as me he would’ve had Secret Service [earlier]. I have by far the biggest crowds.”
Trump said that his campaign has had preliminary discussions with the Secret Service, but that the federal agency has not given him an answer on when he will receive protection.
“They’re in no rush because I’m a Republican. They don’t give a shit,” he told The Hill.
“Of course I don’t think they’d want anything to happen. But I would think they should be very proactive and want protection for somebody like me that has 20,000 people at any time,” Trump later added. “You would think that they would want to be very proactive, but we have not heard from them.”
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security told The Hill that the agency has not received a formal application for Secret Service protection from the Trump campaign.
