Judicial Watch announced it received 99 pages of Secret Service records from the Department of Homeland Security in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that show Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas personally declined presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request for Secret Service protection.
Judicial Watch received the records through a September 26, 2023, lawsuit that was filed after the Department of Homeland Security failed to respond to a July 31, 2023, FOIA request for senior department officials’ communications regarding the provision of Secret Service protection for Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:23-cv-02846)).
The newly obtained records include a July 21, 2023, two-sentence letter sent by Mayorkas to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, advising her:
On May 26, 2023, Candidate for President Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. submitted a request to the Department of Homeland Security for United States Secret Service protection. In accordance with the authority set forth in Title 18, United States Code, Section 3056(a)(7), and in consultation with the Candidate Protection Advisory Committee, I decline to identify Candidate Kennedy for United States Secret Service protection at this time.
If anyone is at risk from a lunatic assassin, it’s a Kennedy. This is reprehensible and spiteful.
Congress should call in the head of the Secret Service, call in the White House, and call in Mayorkas and ask them why they are leaving @RobertKennedyJr without Secret Service protection..
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) February 16, 2024
READ: https://t.co/YjCUoteZgH pic.twitter.com/mEw0WzSTl3
BREAKING FROM @JUDICIALWATCH: DHS Secretary Mayorkas Personally Declined Presidential Candidate @RobertKennedyJr Request for Secret Service Protection – https://t.co/c2BbLGhz7Q pic.twitter.com/AMGhTrqqjR
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) February 14, 2024