'An abuse of discretion': Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. responds to latest Secret Service denial

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. threatened the Department of Homeland Security with legal action, after department Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas denied Kennedy's fifth request for Secret Service protection.

In a March 28 letter to the Kennedy campaign, Mayorkas determined Secret Service protection for Kennedy is not warranted after consulting with an advisory committee comprised of top congressional leaders and the Senate Sergeant at Arms.

Kennedy's attorney, Aaron Siri, called the department's string of denials "capricious, an abuse of discretion, and clearly politically motivated," in a letter dated March 29, addressed to Mayorkas and posted to X, formerly Twitter by the presidential candidate.

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The letter charges Mayorkas and the DHS with "ignoring the real risks" to Kennedy, including an incident Siri described at a campaign event involving an attendee with two loaded handguns.

The Secret Service extended protection to presidential and vice presidential candidates after the 1968 assassination of Kennedy's father and then-Democratic presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy. The younger Kennedy is also the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, assassinated earlier that decade while serving in office.

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Criteria for protection include publicly announcing one's candidacy, facing "general or specific threats" and, for independent and third-party candidates, polling at 20% or above in the Real Clear Politics national average for at least 30 days, according to the Secret Service website.

Kennedy was polling at around 11% as of Thursday, according to Real Clear Polling's national average.

The Homeland Security Secretary also has "broad discretion" in determining which candidates qualify, the website says.

Siri accused Mayorkas of withholding protection given Kennedy's status as a challenger to President Joe Biden and threatened to hold the secretary personally accountable should something happen to the candidate.

"Your disregard for the safety of Mr. Kennedy and others in his environment is contemptible," Siri wrote. "Failure to provide him Secret Service protection forthwith lays naked your political motivations and lowers the esteem of our great nation."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: RFK Jr. denied Secret Service protection again, threatens legal action