July 8, 2024.  That’s the date RFK, Jr., by law, is entitled to Secret Service protection.  Title 18 U.S.C. 3056(a)(7) states that the U.S. Secret Service is authorized to protect major Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates and their spouses, as identified by the DHS secretary, within 120 days of the general presidential election (November 5, 2024).

You would think Biden would want to help candidate RFK, Jr.  After all, Democrat pundits are opining that independent candidate RFK, Jr will help Biden’s bid for a second term.  Example: MSN reports, “…right now, of all the things Biden supporters need to worry about as obstacle to the incumbent’s second term, RFK Jr. is likely to become a minor consideration and perhaps even an ace in the hole.” 

Conspiracy theories aside, if you, as the DHS secretary, were presented with the following how would you decide on a request for protection.

On October 25^th -- an intruder, Jonathan Macht, climbed the fence at RFK, Jr’s Los Angeles home and was arrested.  After being released from police custody, the trespasser returned to the home later in the day and was arrested again.  According to the New York Post, Gavin de Becker & Associates, the private security firm employed by Kennedy Jr., has informed the Secret Service about “this specific obsessed individual several times in recent months and shared alarming communications he has sent to the candidate.”

On Sept. 15^th -- when Mr. Kennedy was scheduled to speak at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, the LAPD reported receiving a call reporting a man who “claimed to be a U.S. Marshal” standing in front of the event venue with “a badge on [his] lapel, a gun, and a shoulder holster,” a spokesperson told the Epoch Times.

The suspect, Adrian Paul Aispuro, was charged with carrying a loaded firearm, carrying a concealed firearm, and impersonating a law-enforcement officer.

The LAPD detective who investigated Aispuro’s case said in court testimony that the suspect, “poses a significant danger in the near future of causing personal injury to others by having access to firearms, magazines, and ammunition (The Epoch Times).”

Dennis Kucinich served as Kennedy’s campaign manager until early October 2023. He sent a letter to President Biden in September urging him to authorize Secret Service protection for Kennedy.

“The threat level to our candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is increasing every day. He is not the only one in danger -- every person who attends a campaign event is at risk,” Mr. Kucinich wrote.

He added, “A specter of violence haunts our political process. Indeed, political assassinations pose a grave threat to democracy. It is not hard to imagine the civil chaos and political disintegration that could ensue with the return of the kind of assassinations of public officials and presidential candidates that marred the 1960s.”

Further, “It is astonishing that under such circumstances, you would deny Secret Service coverage to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has polled more than 20 percent in the first five primary states, and whose net favorability rating exceeds both yours and Donald Trump's.”

And, “I know that you do not want to see America reeling again from the consequences of another political assassination. Therefore, I ask you in the spirit of patriotism, of fairness, and of good conscience to grant Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. the Secret Service protection that his circumstances so obviously warrant.”

On October 18th, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sent a letter to Mayorkas, asking why Mr. Kennedy had not yet been provided protection.  

The letter said, “This near assassination attempt hardly came as a surprise given that Mr. Kennedy’s original request for Secret Service protection included a 67-page report from a leading private security firm detailing a myriad of unique and well-established safety risks.”

Not long after the assassination attempt, Judicial Watch obtained records detailing the Secret Service’s denial of Kennedy’s protection request.  Judicial Watch received 11 pages of Secret Service records detailing the denial of protection to presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., despite having received numerous threats from “known subjects.”

“Every presidential administration for 55 years has afforded early protection to candidates who requested it. The Biden administration is the sole outlier,” the campaign claims.

Based on events to date, there is a strong risk that lives are in imminent danger that could be prevented with a stroke of Secretary Mayorkas’ pen.  Biden has the authority to instruct Mayorkas to affix his signature to the authorization, but won’t, and no one knows why, as the Biden administration is mum on so far three separate requests for protection. 

Based on the history of assassinations in the Kennedy family alone it seems incomprehensible that authorization is not forthcoming.  But then again, this is the same administration that is trying with all its might to prosecute a major presidential rival for specious wrongdoings.

There are nine months between now and July 8, 2024.  Let’s hope and pray nothing happens to Robert F. Kennedy, his family, or his supporters at campaign events during that nine months. 

Image: Chuck Patch