Backlash to Denial of Secret Service for RFK
Segment # 179
This is worth an update as Kennedy has experienced more threats. NBC news reported that Kennedy’s security problem was exacerbated by his anti-vaccine campaign (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/gavin-de-becker-rfk-jr-bodyguard-bank-vaccine-critic-rcna153586) which is false. Kennedy is a not opposed to all vaccines. He is opposed to the miRNA COVID vaccine and has been proven right on many of his assertions made since he wrote The Real Anthony Fauci. NBC, along with legacy media, is supportive of the CDC and continued COVID shots and boosters for all age groups. The point is that the implication by NBC and the media is that Kennedy and his beliefs brought this security issue to himself and, therefore, even though he is a public figure and a presidential candidate, he does not deserve protection.
Common decency is not a description often applied to either Biden or Mayorkas, as they have repeatedly refused secret service protection for Robert F, Kennedy Jr’s presidential bid. The only rationale that I can see is that they don’t want to do anything to legitimize his third-party bid. Certainly, Biden will not debate him knowing that intellectually Kennedy would destroy him. However, having lived through both the assassination of John Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy, it is depraved to not do everything possible to prevent another tragedy in this family. Knowing that Kennedy has already suffered multiple threats on his life and now three break-ins at his home, the depravity of the politics at play has found new depths. Should something happen I certainly blame Biden and Mayorkas; however, I will always fail to respect the Kennedy clan for not speaking out on this issue.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate, has repeatedly requested Secret Service protection from the Biden administration, citing credible threats to his safety and his family's tragic history of assassinations. However, his requests have been consistently denied by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, despite incidents like an armed man attempting to meet Kennedy at a campaign event.
Kennedy's campaign provided a 67-page report detailing serious security risks, and the Secret Service's assessment acknowledged he was likely at risk for assassination "for no other reason than [the mere fact] that he is a Kennedy." An online petition demanding protection for Kennedy has garnered over 420,000 signatures. Mayorkas has justified the denials by citing recommendations from a congressional advisory panel, though he has broad discretion in granting protection. Kennedy's attorney accused Mayorkas of politicizing the issue, threatening legal action and suggesting the denials stemmed from Kennedy’s candidacy challenging President Biden.
Historically, major presidential candidates have routinely received early Secret Service protection, including Biden, Trump, Obama, and Ted Kennedy, who received it 400 days before the election from President Carter despite being his political rival. Critics argue that withholding protection from Kennedy, given his family's tragic history and credible threats, is an "abuse of discretion" and undermines fair elections.
Ironically, It is Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas who makes the most articulate argument for secret service protection for Kennedy. This is dated October of 2023.
PUBLISHED:10.18.2023
SEN. CRUZ DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT AFTER SECRET SERVICE DENIED PROTECTION TO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on The Constitution, wrote to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas demanding answers after the Secret Service denied protection to presidential candidate Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. The Secret Service did this even after Kennedy’s campaign provided a 67-page report from a leading private security firm detailing serious threats and risks to his safety. In its final report, the Secret Service denied protection despite admitting that Kennedy is likely at risk for assassination.
In the letter, Sen. Cruz wrote, “Since your decision to refuse Mr. Kennedy protection and determining ‘it [was] not warranted,’ an armed man was arrested at one of his campaign events in Los Angeles and subsequently charged with carrying a loaded firearm, carrying a concealed weapon, and impersonating a Deputy United States Marshal.”
Sen. Cruz demanded answers about why it took 88 days instead of the standard 14 days for the Secret Service to determine that Kennedy did not require protection and demanded justification considering the security lapse when an armed man impersonating a Deputy U.S. Marshal showed up at a Kennedy event.
Sen. Cruz demanded answers by October 31.
Read the full text of the letter here and below.
Dear Secretary Mayorkas,
On July 21, 2023, you made the executive decision to deny Secret Service protection to Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. after eighty-eight days of failing to respond to his either formal request for protection, or follow-ups by his campaign. This delay represents a stark departure from the standard fourteen day turnaround for this type of request. Since your decision to refuse Mr. Kennedy protection and determining “it [was] not warranted,” an armed man was arrested at one of his campaign events in Los Angeles and subsequently charged with carrying a loaded firearm, carrying a concealed weapon, and impersonating a Deputy United States Marshal. This near assassination attempt hardly came as a surprise given that Mr. Kennedy’s original request for Secret Service protection included a sixty-seven page report from a leading private security firm detailing a myriad of unique and well-established safety risks.
Two weeks after this incident, on September 29, 2023, Judicial Watch, a government accountability nonprofit organization, received eleven pages of Secret Service records detailing Mr. Kennedy’s protection request denial. Notably, the report indicated that Mr. Kennedy received numerous credible threats from “known subjects” and further determined that he is at an elevated “risk for adverse attention.” Additionally, the records included a Secret Service “Protective Intelligence Assessment.” This assessment revealed numerous “behaviors of interest” such as a letter sent to the hotel where Mr. Kennedy announced his presidential campaign. In this concerning letter, a person of interest expressed a desire to “discuss [their] sins” with Mr. Kennedy and mentioned that a “madman” may commit a “serious terrorist act.” The assessment further revealed that another known subject regularly sends Mr. Kennedy threatening emails, stating he will “bury” Kennedy, “everyone will die,” and that he will make Mr. Kennedy “suffer.” Further complicating matters, the assessment also revealed the Secret Service’s own concession that Mr. Kennedy is likely at risk of assassination “for no other reason than [the mere fact] that he is a Kennedy.”
The records also indicated that the Secret Service is aware that Mr. Kennedy has received increased media attention after accusing the Central Intelligence Agency of involvement in the assassination of his uncle, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and advocating for the release of the individual currently imprisoned for assassinating his father, Robert F. Kennedy, and speaking out against COVID-19 vaccines.”
In light of your exceptionally delayed action and inexplicable refusal to provide security for this presidential candidate despite the extraordinary threats he is receiving, I demand answers to the following questions by October 31, 2023:
Why did it take eighty-eight days to respond to Mr. Kennedy’s formal request for Secret Service protection, especially when the typical turnaround time is fourteen days?
How do you justify denying Secret Service protection when an armed man was subsequently arrested at one of Mr. Kennedy’s campaign events and charged with serious offenses shortly after your decision?
What role, if any, did the sixty-seven-page report from a leading private security firm play in determining that Secret Service protection was “not warranted” in Mr. Kennedy’s case?
Given the eleven pages of Secret Service records released to Judicial Watch, which highlight numerous credible threats and assessments of an elevated risk to Mr. Kennedy, what additional evidence or information would be required to warrant Secret Service protection in this case?
Can you explain the rationale behind the Secret Service’s acknowledgment that Mr. Kennedy is “at risk of assassination” solely because of his Kennedy family lineage?
How do you address the fact that previous major presidential candidates, such as Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, then-Senator Barack Obama, and Senator Ted Kennedy, received Secret Service protection well over 120 days before the general election, setting a clear precedent for exceptions to the general rule as provided by law? Was then-Senator Obama under more threat during his campaign than Mr. Kennedy is today?
I ask that you act swiftly to provide this major presidential candidate the protection that his exceptional circumstances so clearly warrant.
'An abuse of discretion': Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. responds to latest Secret Service denial
USA TODAY
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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. threatened the Department of Homeland Security with legal action, after department Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas denied Kennedy's fifth request for Secret Service protection.
In a March 28 letter to the Kennedy campaign, Mayorkas determined Secret Service protection for Kennedy is not warranted after consulting with an advisory committee comprised of top congressional leaders and the Senate Sergeant at Arms.
Kennedy's attorney, Aaron Siri, called the department's string of denials "capricious, an abuse of discretion, and clearly politically motivated," in a letter dated March 29, addressed to Mayorkas and posted to X, formerly Twitter by the presidential candidate.
More:RFK Jr., floating conspiracy theory, says 'reasonable' people say Jan. 6 wasn't insurrection
The letter charges Mayorkas and the DHS with "ignoring the real risks" to Kennedy, including an incident Siri described at a campaign event involving an attendee with two loaded handguns.
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It would be such poetic justice to have Trump win and then appoint Kennedy HHS secretary and watch him tear the agency apart and become a valuable part of Trump’s cabinet.