
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s lawyer has obtained a document detailing 34 incidents of threats and odd rants against his client under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The document illustrates the client’s ongoing pursuit of Secret Service security.
Excerpts from the 775-page FOIA dossier that Kennedy attorney Aaron Siri had obtained included both previously unknown and unreported details of occurrences. This report follows many denials of Kennedy’s request for Secret Service protection. Siri has issued at least six letters to Alejandro Mayorkas, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, formally asking for protection. Patrick Kennedy, a former member of the House, also wrote Mayorkas last month to demand explanations for the rejections.
The document lists threats against Kennedy but only identifies them as “known subjects.” The Secret Service website lays out guidelines for Secret Service protection, including requiring Mayorkas to be sensitive to threat assessments directed toward the candidate. Patrick Kennedy wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, which prompted Patrick Kennedy and Davidson to meet.
Siri ordered Mayorkas to reveal the identity of all those who were a danger to the independent presidential candidate in a letter sent to him on June 6. According to the letter, Mayorkas has been asked to offer Secret Service security to Kennedy at least six times, and the letter states that Mayorkas’ refusal to do so is due to “personal” and “political” reasons.
Tom Balcerski, a presidential historian at Eastern Connecticut State University, said that this was the most high-profile request ever to be denied, particularly poignant given the assassination of his father [Robert F. Kennedy] in 1968 that changed the way candidates are protected. Secret Service protection was extended to third-party candidate George Wallace following the assassination, and it is believed that Mayorkas is acting in accordance with the wishes of his immediate supervisor and that Biden is opposed to it.