(NewsReady.com) – It’s common practice for the major political candidates in an election to get Secret Service protection. In fact, 18 United States Code § 3056 requires it within 120 days of a general presidential election. There are times when that changes, like in the 2015 presidential primary, and Nikki Haley is hoping she will get it too.
Republican candidate Nikki Haley decided to stay in the primary race even after all of the other members of her party dropped out to clear the path for former President Donald Trump. That has created some problems for the former South Carolina governor, namely, an increase in the number of threats she is receiving.
The ex-US ambassador for the United Nations is receiving so many threats that she requested Secret Service protection. In recent weeks, she said that she was the target of two swatting calls to her home. That’s when someone reports a violent crime in progress to law enforcement in the hope that they will respond in force. People have died in the past as a result of this type of prank.
Haley has increased the amount of security at her events. A woman recently tried to rush the stage at one of the former governor’s events in her home state, and Haley’s security detail tackled the person in response. It’s not unprecedented for a primary candidate to receive protection from the Secret Service.
In 2015, then-candidates Trump and Ben Carson requested protection from the federal agency. Jeh Johnson, the Homeland Security secretary at the time, consulted with an advisory committee and granted the request. The committee considered the threat environment, the amount of contributions their campaigns were receiving, and how they were doing in the polls in order to make a decision.
Homeland Security has not commented on the request from the former governor. According to Axios, Haley said she wasn’t going to let the threats against her stop her from “doing what [she] need[s] to do.”
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