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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reported that the Biden administration rejected his requests for protection by the Secret Service.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Kennedy wrote that every presidential candidate since his father, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., who was assassinated during his own presidential campaign in 1968, had been granted protection by the Secret Service.
Also, his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated while visiting Dallas, Texas, in 1963.
“Since the assassination of my father in 1968, candidates for president are provided Secret Service protection,” Kennedy tweeted. “But not me.”
According to the Secret Service, only major presidential and vice presidential candidates and their spouses are provided Secret Service protection within 120 days of the general election. However, the homeland security secretary and a panel of congressional leaders “determines who qualifies as a major candidate.”
Kennedy, Joe Biden’s main primary opponent for the 2024 Democrat nomination, claimed that after 88-days of receiving “no response” from the administration, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas denied his request.
“Typical turnaround time for pro forma protection requests from presidential candidates is 14-days,” said Kennedy. “After 88-days of no response and after several follow-ups by our campaign, the Biden Administration just denied our request.”
In his tweet, Kennedy quoted Secretary Mayorkas as saying: “I have determined that Secret Service protection for Robert F Kennedy Jr is not warranted at this time.”
Kennedy also wrote that his campaign’s security request included “a 67-page report from the world’s leading protection firm, detailing unique and well established security and safety risks aside from commonplace death threats.”
The Biden administration’s conduct regarding their alleged questionable extension of Secret Service protection to some has been no stranger to controversy.
According to the Secret Service, the Former Presidents Protection Act of 2012 grants former President George W. Bush and all future former presidents Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives. However, former presidents’ children “up to the age of 16 are assured protection under the new law.”
However, ABC News reported last spring that a Secret Service detail protecting Joe Biden’s 53-year-old son, Hunter, has allegedly been paying $30,000 per month to protect the controversial First Son in a Malibu, California mansion.
Hunter Biden was also seen being driven to a federal courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday by a motorcade of SUVs ahead of a hearing on his controversial sweetheart plea deal.
While Kennedy’s request for protection came earlier than when candidates typically request and receive Secret Service, others had been granted protection much earlier in their presidential campaigns than when requested by Kennedy.
Protection began for presidential candidate then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in May 2007, “the earliest initiation of Secret Service protection for any candidate in history,” according to the Secret Service.
However, there is a long list of presidential candidates who have been shot or killed during their White House campaigns, including George Wallace in 1972 (wounded), Joseph Smith in 1844 (killed), Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 (wounded), and Kennedy’s own father, Robert F. Kennedy Sr. in 1968 (killed).
