Overview

• Multiple outlets report that Karoline Leavitt received a Secret Service protective detail in recent days.
• Reporting links the assignment to heightened safety concerns after the shooting that killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
• Protection for a press secretary is unusual but not without precedent, as Sarah Huckabee Sanders received a temporary detail in 2018 after a Lexington, Virginia incident.
• Only the president and vice president are legally required to accept Secret Service protection, though some senior aides such as the chief of staff and national security adviser routinely receive it.
• Congress is considering roughly $58 million in new funding to expand protective operations for executive and judicial officials, and Leavitt and the agency have not commented.