Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s wife, Cheryl Hines, criticized President Joe Biden for not offering them Secret Service protection after an intruder broke into their Los Angeles home twice in one day.
The 58-year-old actress and comedian said on TMZ Live on Friday that not offering intelligence to her husband, who is running as an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election, “feels like a political strategy.”
She said the decision suggested the administration did not recognize Kennedy’s candidacy despite its “respect for President Biden and the administration.”
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Kennedy agreed with his wife that the decision was a “political” move.
‘[The trespasser] wrote me 435 emails over a three-month period, including one last week about me getting a bullet shot in the brain,” he said.
Jonathan Macht, who broke into Kennedy’s home on Wednesday, was listed in a Secret Service risk assessment in June as part of the candidate’s protection request, Fox reported.
The Secret Service determined Kennedy was at “elevated risk” months ago, but Homeland Security twice rejected his requests for protection, Kennedy said.
Kennedy is at 19 percent in the most recent poll, and the family has been receiving death threats and experiencing home invasions for several months.
Cheryl Hines (pictured), 58, said “it was a political strategy” not to provide Secret Service protection to her husband, who is running for the 2024 presidential election
Hines said the decision suggested the administration did not recognize Kennedy’s candidacy
An intruder was arrested twice on Wednesday for trying to break into the couple’s LA home
Major party candidates polling above 15 percent and independent candidates polling above 20 percent are eligible for Secret Service protection pursuant to Title 18 USC 3056(a)(7).
The late Senator Ted Kennedy, the candidate’s uncle, received Secret Service protection 441 days before the 1980 presidential election in which he challenged incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter.
Former President Barack Obama was granted Secret Service protection 551 days before the 2008 election because of racist threats during his run in the Democratic primary.
Hines said she noticed a strange man in the yard being arrested by security around 9:30 a.m. while she was on Instagram Live at the family’s Brentwood property.
“The harrowing event” underscored the need for her husband to seek Secret Service protection, Hines said, which was “twice rejected” by President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security.
“If they give Bobby protection, then they recognize that he is running as a political candidate,” she said.
Macht was arrested after he climbed over a fence to gain access to the Brentwood property, reaching the second floor of the home, before being arrested by Kennedy’s private security on Wednesday.
After his release from police custody, the man again attempted to gain access to Kennedy’s property to see and speak to the candidate.
He was subsequently arrested a second time for violating the court order and trespassing.
Kennedy wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Yesterday an intruder climbed over the fence of my house and was arrested.”
“After he was released from police custody later that day, he immediately returned to my home and was arrested again,” the post continued.
Kennedy and Hines have made two formal requests for Secret Service protection, but Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has refused to agree to either.
“It is disappointing, to say the least, that the government is not providing protection to Bobby,” Hines said in the interview.
“They know what’s happening and they know what happened,” the actress added. “I can’t believe they don’t respond.”
Hines said “it takes a lot of effort” to protect the candidate, but “that’s exactly what the Secret Service should be doing.”
Kennedy and Hines made two formal requests for Secret Service protection, but neither was approved
Kennedy’s campaign team made another request for Secret Service protection on Wednesday
An image included in a letter Thursday to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requesting that Kennedy receive Secret Service protection shows the weapons that Adrian Paul Aispuro brought to a Kennedy campaign rally in September
The Kennedy campaign also shared the weapons found when police searched the home of Aispuro, who posed as a police officer at the Kennedy campaign event in September
That same day, Kennedy wrote on
Kennedy’s campaign resubmitted a petition Wednesday.
His father, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated by a gunman while 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 called for Secret Service protection in September after a man was arrested after he showed up to a Kennedy campaign rally armed with two pistols and posing as a police officer.
Once again, Kennedy’s private security guard arrested the man – 44-year-old Adrian Paul Aispuro.
“Although it is a well-known historical fact, it appears to be worth repeating in your case,” Kennedy’s campaign manager, former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, said at the time.
‘Mister. Kennedy’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. Mr. Kennedy’s father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated while running for president.