Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s fifth request for Secret Service protection was denied.
According to the Washington Times, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in a letter from March 28, wrote that "based on facts and the recommendation of the advisory committee, I have determined that Secret Service protection for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not warranted at this time."
Kennedy's lawyer, Aaron Siri, told the Times that the repeated denials are "capricious, an abuse of discretion and clearly politically motivated."
Siri argued Secret Service protection was first expanded to presidential candidates because of the assassination of Kennedy's father in 1968 while he was running for president.
Since then, 32 presidential candidates have received protection, the lawyer wrote, the Washington Times reported.
Siri also noted that candidates in the past have received protection for far fewer risks than Kennedy faces, including one instance in which a person at a Kennedy campaign event with two loaded handguns who demanded to see the candidate, the outlet reported.
In a letter to Mayorkas, Siri wrote, "Not only have you ignored the obvious threats to the life of the candidate, you have also ignored the assessment of your own Secret Service" — suggesting the denial was because Kennedy's candidacy "poses a risk" to Mayorkas' job and that of President Joe Biden.
"Your disregard for the safety of Mr. Kennedy and others in his environment is contemptible," the lawyer wrote. "Failure to provide him Secret Service protection forthwith lays naked your political motivations and lowers the esteem of our great nation."
"To be sure, there are things worse than death. Living without integrity is one of them," Siri wrote, the outlet reported.
In a own post on X, Kennedy wrote the denials "would almost be funny, except that the butt of the joke is the impartiality and integrity of our political institutions."
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