(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The non-profit transparency group Judicial Watch announced Tuesday that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas personally declined presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request for Secret Service protection.
Judicial Watch sued the DHS last July about the matter, and said Tuesday that it received a new tranche of documents—including records that implicate Mayorkas in the decision to deny protection for RFK.
The specific record that implicates Mayorkas is a letter sent by him to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on July 21, 2023.
In that letter, Mayorkas said that on May 26, 2023, candidate for President Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. submitted a request to the Department of Homeland Security for United States Secret Service protection.
“In accordance with the authority set forth in Title 18, United States Code, Section 3056(a)(7), and in consultation with the Candidate Protection Advisory Committee, I decline to identify Candidate Kennedy for United States Secret Service protection at this time,” Mayorkas said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Sergeant at Arms Karen Gibson were all recipients of Mayorkas’s letter, according to Judicial Watch.
Judicial Watch’s Tuesday findings come on the heels of the group also obtaining records that showed Assistant Director Michael Plati ordering his staff not to respond to a request for information from RFK’s head of security. The documents also confirmed that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alexander Mayorkas and President Biden both have the discretion to provide Secret Service protection to Kennedy at any time, according to Judicial Watch.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton blasted the Biden administration and the DHS for not providing protection to a presidential candidate whose father and uncle were both assassinated while serving as high government officials.
“It is simply despicable that Secretary Mayorkas refused needed Secret Service protection for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” said Fitton. “That it took a federal FOIA lawsuit to force out this information speaks volumes.”
Kennedy has also blasted the Secret Service and DHS for not taking seriously his requests for additional security—especially given his family history, but also because he is a presidential candidate.
“Every presidential administration for 55 years has afforded early protection to candidates who requested it,” he said in October. “The Biden administration is the sole outlier.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
