Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is again pleading for Secret Service protection and asking the courts to issue a restraining order against a man who has twice tried to break into his home.
Kennedy is seeking a court restraining order against Jonathan Macht, who was previously identified by police as an intruder in his home.
RFK Jr. made the move on Monday, although it is unclear whether a judge has granted the request.
Kennedy Jr., 69, is running as an independent candidate after initially challenging Biden for the Democratic nomination, but he is lagging far behind in opinion polls.
The son of U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated during his own presidential bid in 1968, has asked for federal protection before – but they have not been granted.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 69, is asking for Secret Service protection while also seeking a court restraining order against a man who tried to break into his home
Kennedy and his wife, Cheryl Hines, made two formal requests for Secret Service protection, but neither was approved
A trespasser was arrested twice last week for trying to break into the couple’s LA home
Macht was arrested last month while allegedly trying to gain entry to his home in Brentwood, near Los Angeles.
In the first incident, Macht climbed over the property’s fence and entered the yard before being held by security guards until police arrived and arrested him.
After his release, Macht returned to RFK Jr.’s home the following day, where he was arrested a second time.
On both occasions, Macht said he wanted to speak with RFK Jr.
The Kennedy campaign made Macht known to the Secret Service several times, describing him as an “obsessive” individual.
In return, the Secret Service determined months ago that Kennedy was at “increased risk.”
RFK Jr.’s wife, Cheryl Hines, criticized President Biden for not offering her husband Secret Service protection.
Cheryl Hines, 58, said she believes it is “a political strategy” not to provide Secret Service protection to her husband, who is running for president in the 2024 election
Kennedy’s campaign team made another request for Secret Service protection on Wednesday
The 58-year-old actress and comedian said on TMZ Live that “it 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, 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.
Major party candidates polling above 15 percent and independent candidates polling above 20 percent are entitled to 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.
Hines said the decision suggested the administration did not recognize Kennedy’s candidacy
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 climbing 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 detail last Wednesday.
Last month, a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Tour bus was spotted outside a campaign rally in Miami, Florida
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
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
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.”
Biden’s security guards stand by as the president pretends to ride a bike last December
President Joe Biden left the White House last week with his security detail in tow
Robert F. Kennedy is now running as an independent candidate after initially challenging Biden in the Democratic primary
Two polls conducted around the time Kennedy announced his independent candidacy showed him tying the race between Trump and Biden
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.