Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is again pleading for Secret Service protection and petitioning the courts to issue a restraining order against a man who has already attempted to break into his house twice.
Kennedy is seeking a court-issued restraining order against Jonathan Macht, who has been previously identified by the police as the intruder at his home.
RFK Jr. made the move on Monday, although it is unclear whether a judge has approved the request.
Kennedy Jr., 69, is running as an independent after initially challenging Biden for the Democratic nomination, but he is far behind in opinion polls.
The son of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential bid, has made pleas for federal protection before – but they have not been granted.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 69, is pleading for Secret Service protection while seeking a court-issued restraining order against a man who tried to break into his home
Kennedy and and his wife Cheryl Hines have made two formal requests for Secret Service protection, but neither was approved
An intruder was twice arrested for attempting to break into the couple’s LA home last week
Macht was arrested last month, as he allegedly attempted to gain entry to his house in Brentwood near Los Angeles.
In the first incident, Macht climbed over the property’s fence and entered the yard before being detained by security personnel until the police came and arrested him.
Following his release, Macht went back to RFK Jr.’s home the following day where he was arrested for a second time.
On both occasions Macht said that he wished to speak with RFK Jr.
The Kennedy campaign flagged Macht to the Secret Service several times describing him as an ‘obsessed’ individual.
In turn, the Secret Service determined Kennedy was ‘at an elevated risk’ months ago
RFK Jr.’s wife, Cheryl Hines, slammed President Biden for not offering her husband Secret Service protection.
Cheryl Hines, 58, said she believes ‘it’s a political strategy’ to not offer Secret Service protection to her husband who is running for the 2024 presidential election
Kennedy’s campaign petitioned again on Wednesday for Secret Service protection
The actress and comedian, 58, said on TMZ Live that ‘it feels like a political strategy.’
She said the decision suggests that the administration is not acknowledging Kennedy’s candidacy despite her ‘respect for President Biden and the administration.’
In an interview with Fox News, Kennedy agreed with his wife that the decision is a ‘political’ move.
‘[The trespasser] has written me 435 emails in a three-month period, including one last week, which was about me getting a bullet in my brain,’ he said.
Candidates from a major party polling above 15 percent and independent candidates polling above 20 percent are eligible for Secret Service protection, according to Title 18 U.S.C. 3056(a)(7).
The late Sen. Ted Kennedy, the candidate’s uncle, was given Secret Service protection 441 days before the 1980 presidential election, in which he challenged incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter.
Hines said the decision suggests that the administration is not acknowledging Kennedy’s candidacy
Former President Barack Obama was afforded Secret Service protection 551 days before the 2008 election due to racist threats when he was running in the Democratic primary.
Hines said she noticed a strange man in the yard being apprehended by security while she was on Instagram Live at the family’s Brentwood estate at around 9:30 am.
‘The harrowing event’ underscored the need for her husband to have Secret Service protection, Hines said, which ‘has been rejected twice’ by President Biden’s Homeland Security.
‘If they do give Bobby protection, then they are acknowledging that he’s running as a political candidate,’ she said.
Macht was arrested after climbing a fence to get access to the Brentwood property – reaching the second floor of the home – before being detained by Kennedy’s private security last Wednesday.
A Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Tour bus is spotted outside a campaign event in Miami, Florida last month
The Kennedy campaign also shared the guns that were found when law enforcement searched the home of Aispuro, who was impersonating a police officer at the September Kennedy campaign event
An image included in a letter Thursday to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking for Kennedy to receive Secret Service protection that shows the guns that Adrian Paul Aispuro brought to a Kennedy campaign event in September
After being released from police custody, the man, again tried to access Kennedy’s property in a bid to see and speak with the candidate.
He was then arrested a second time for violating the court order and trespassing.
Kennedy wrote on X (formerly Twitter): ‘Yesterday an intruder climbed the fence at my home and was arrested.’
‘After being released from police custody later in the day, he immediately returned to my home and was arrested again,’ the post continues.
Kennedy and Hines have made two formal requests for Secret Service protection, but Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has refused to approve both.
‘It’s disappointing to say the very least that the administration is not giving Bobby protection,’ Hines said in the interview.
‘They know what’s happening and they know what has been happening,’ the actress added. ‘I can’t believe that they are not responding.’
Hines said ‘it takes a lot of efforts’ to protect the candidate, but ‘it’s exactly what the Secret Service should be doing.’
Biden’s security detail stand by as the president pretends to ride a bike in December last year
President Joe Biden is seen leaving the White House last week with his security detail in tow
Robert F. Kennedy is now running as an independent, after initially challenging Biden in the Democratic primary
Two surveys conducted around the time Kennedy announced his independent bid showed him tying the race between Trump and Biden
The same day Kennedy wrote on X, slamming President Biden: ‘It’s not right for the President to provide protection to his family and political favorites while denying it to political rivals.’
Kennedy’s campaign petitioned again Wednesday.
His father, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated by a gunman when he was running for president in 1968.
Meanwhile, his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated during his first term in the White House in 1963.
The 2024 campaign had called for Secret Service protection in September after a man was arrested after showing up to a Kennedy campaign event armed with two pistols, impersonating a police officer.
Again, Kennedy’s private security detail detained the man – 44-year-old Adrian Paul Aispuro.
‘Although it is a well-known historical fact, apparently, in your case, it bears repeating,’ Kennedy’s campaign manager, former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, said at the time.
‘Mr. Kennedy’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. Mr. Kennedy’s father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated while a presidential candidate.’