Washington: Indian-American Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley, the lone challenger left against former US President Donald Trump, has formally requested Secret Service protection citing “multiple issues,” the BBC reported.
The former South Carolina Governor and United Nations ambassador discussed the request for protection in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
“We’ve had multiple issues. It’s not going to stop me from doing what I need to do,” she said after a campaign event in Aiken, South Carolina.
“When you do something like this, you get threats. It’s just the reality. That’s not going to deter me. Does it mean we have to put a few more bodies around this? Yes, that’s fine,” she told the paper.
Haley, who has been urged by the former President Trump and his backers to exit the race and unify the party against Democrat Joe Biden, currently uses personal security while campaigning.
In addition, protesters have shown up at her campaign events to slam her support for Israel and Ukraine.
“At the end of the day, we’re going to go out there and touch every hand, we’re going to answer every question, we’re going to make sure that we are there and doing everything that we need to,” she said.
The White House hopeful has been a target of “swatting” attempts with the recent one on New Year’s Day when a hoax call was made to law enforcement agencies, saying Haley’s daughter had been shot and was lying in a pool of blood.
Days before, her Kiawah Island home was also swatted when a man called the police and claimed to have shot a woman.
While Haley was not at home, her parents were there along with a caregiver. Calling it an “awful situation,” she had said: “It put the law enforcement officers in danger, it put my family in danger… That’s what happens when you run for president.”
Secret Service protection is granted to “major” candidates under federal law, usually when they look certain to become their party’s nominee, the BBC said.
A call on providing Haley with Secret Service support would be taken by the US Secretary of Homeland Security, who would first confer with a Joint Congressional Committee.
As former President, Trump who enjoys a large double-digit lead over Haley, gets Secret Service protection for life.
Despite lagging behind her former boss in the two primaries held so far, Haley raised a massive $16.5 million in January alone.
The next major primary is scheduled to be held in her home state of South Carolina later this month.
–IANS