RFK Jr. Again Denied Secret Service Protection, Threatens Legal Action

Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas has for the fifth time denied Secret Service protection for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to a letter dated March 28 that was reviewed by Newsweek.

The latest in the string of denials appears to have initiated a threat of legal action from attorney Aaron Siri of the law firm Siri Glimstad, obtained by the Kennedy campaign.

In the letter, which Kennedy posted to X, formerly Twitter, Siri says he will attempt to hold Mayorkas personally responsible should Kennedy or a bystander be injured as a result of a lack of Secret Service protection. The letter also claims that Mayorkas is refusing to disclose the names of the individuals that the Secret Service has already determined pose a threat to Kennedy.

“If protection is not afforded, we have been authorized to commence an action on the grounds that the repeated denials have been politically motivated and are otherwise capricious,” reads the letter to Mayorkas from Siri, dated one day after Mayorkas’ latest denial.

“If any harm befalls Mr. Kennedy or any other member of the public who may be injured or killed in any incident that arises due to lack of Secret Service protection to the candidate and the deterrent it affords, we will seek to hold you accountable.

“Attacks on public figures often result in serious injury and death to bystanders, and we will not hesitate to represent them in an action against you personally for your conduct.”

Siri ends his letter with an appeal to morality, writing: “To be sure, there are things worse than death. Living without integrity is one of them.”

Mayorkas has been turning down Kennedy’s request for Secret Service protection for a year. The latest letter is identical to one dated two months earlier, only the date has been changed.

The latest denial letter from Mayorkas states: “Based on the facts and the recommendation of the advisory committee, I have determined that Secret Service protection for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not warranted at this time.”

The advisory committee consists of House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Sergeant at Arms Karen Gibson.

While Mayorkas did not respond to Newsweek’s request for comment, he may be relying on Homeland Security guidelines. They say that presidential candidates polling at 15 percent or better for 30 consecutive days for a major party would be eligible for Secret Service protection within one year of a general election. The threshold for independent candidates like Kennedy is 20 percent.

According to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls, in a five-way race, GOP candidate Donald Trump is at 42 percent, President Joe Biden is at 40 percent and Kennedy is in third with 10 percent, while Cornel West and Jill Stein are both below 2 percent.

But Mayorkas is given a wide berth for exceptions, as were his predecessors. Barack Obama in 2007, for example, was afforded Secret Service protection 551 days prior to the general election, well outside of the one-year threshold.

The Kennedy campaign argues that Mayorkas is also supposed to consider whether there are specific threats against a candidate and historical evidence of a candidate’s unique background.

The numerous letters Kennedy’s campaign has sent to Mayorkas lean on these exceptions, noting that his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was killed by an assassin, as was his father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, when he was a candidate for president.

The letter from Siri notes that, since Kennedy’s father was killed in 1968 by Sirhan Sirhan, at least 32 candidates were afforded Secret Service protection, and that “many of these candidates had less financial support and lower national polling than Mr. Kennedy, and additionally they had not experienced any actual specific attempted harm.”

Specific threats to Kennedy include multiple trespassers at his home and properties, a man showing up at an event with a firearm and a person who threatened to kill Kennedy on the same day as his father, June 6.

“The Secret Service revealed numerous instances of threats to the candidate which included a threat of ‘serious terrorist act’ and one seeking to ‘bury’ him,” Siri wrote in his letter to Mayorkas.

Kennedy, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, has stated his belief that the Biden administration, via Mayorkas, is refusing him Secret Service protection so that he’ll be forced to spend campaign funds for private security, rather than on his bid for the presidency and the expensive process of gathering enough signatures to put him on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Siri also notes that “Mr. Kennedy’s status as a challenger to your boss, President Biden, also poses a risk to your [and your boss’s] future employment, including because your Administration believes Mr. Kennedy will draw votes away from President Biden in the upcoming election.”