Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s wife, Cheryl Hines, blasted President Joe Biden for not offering them Secret Service protection after an intruder broke into their Los Angeles home twice in one day.
The actress and comedian, 58, said further TMZLive On Friday, she said it “feels like a political strategy” not to offer secret service to her husband, who is running for the 2024 presidential election.
She said the decision suggests the administration is not recognizing Kennedy’s candidacy, despite its “respect for President Biden and the administration.”
In an interview with Fox News digitalKennedy agreed with his wife that the decision is a “political” move.
“(The offender) wrote me 435 emails over a three-month period, including one last week, saying I was getting a bullet in the head,” he said.
Jonathan Macht, who broke into Kennedy’s home on Wednesday, was included in a Secret Service risk assessment in June as part of the candidate’s request for protection, Fox reported.
The Secret Service determined Kennedy was “at increased risk” months ago, but Homeland Security twice denied his requests for protection, Kennedy said.
Kennedy is at 19 percent in the most recent poll, and the family has received death threats and experienced home invasions in recent months.
Cheryl Hines (pictured), 58, said it is “a political strategy” not to provide Secret Service protection to her husband, who is running for the 2024 presidential election
Hines said the decision suggests the administration does not recognize Kennedy’s candidacy
An intruder was arrested twice on Wednesday for trying to break into the couple’s LA home
Major party candidates who receive more than 15 percent of the vote and independent candidates who receive more than 20 percent of the vote are eligible for Secret Service protection, according 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.
Former President Barack Obama received Secret Service protection for racist threats 551 days before the 2008 election as he ran for office in the Democratic primary.
Hines said she saw a strange man being stopped by security in the yard while she was on Instagram Live at the family’s Brentwood property around 9:30 a.m.
“The harrowing event” underscored the need for her husband to get Secret Service protection, said Hines, who has been “rejected twice” by President Biden’s Homeland Security.
“When they offer Bobby protection, they are recognizing that he is running as a political candidate,” she said.
Macht was arrested after climbing a fence to gain access to the Brentwood property – reaching the second floor of the house – before being detained by Kennedy’s private security on Wednesday.
After being released from police custody, the man tried to gain access to Kennedy’s property again in an attempt to see and speak to the candidate.
He was subsequently arrested a second time for breach of court order and trespassing.
Kennedy wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Yesterday an intruder climbed the fence at my house and was arrested.”
“After being released from police custody later that day, he immediately returned to my home and was arrested again,” the post continues.
Kennedy and Hines have submitted two formal requests for Secret Service protection, but Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has declined to approve either.
“It is disappointing, to say the least, that the government is not providing Bobby with protection,” Hines said in the interview.
“They know what’s happening and they know what happened,” the actress added. “I can’t believe they’re not responding.”
Hines said “it takes a lot of effort” to protect the candidate, but “it’s exactly what the Secret Service should be doing.”
Kennedy and Hines submitted two formal requests for Secret Service protection, but neither was approved
Kennedy’s campaign filed another petition for Secret Service protection on Wednesday
An image included in a letter Thursday to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas requesting that Kennedy receive Secret Service protection shows the weapons Adrian Paul Aispuro brought to a Kennedy campaign event in September
The Kennedy campaign also shared weapons found when law enforcement officers searched the home of Aispuro, who posed as a police officer at the Kennedy campaign event in September.
The same day, Kennedy wrote on
Kennedy’s campaign filed another petition on Wednesday.
His father, Robert F. Kennedy, was killed by a gunman in 1968 while running for president.
Meanwhile, his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated during his first term in the White House in 1963.
The 2024 campaign had called for Secret Service protection in September after a man was arrested after showing up at a Kennedy campaign event armed with two handguns and posing as a police officer.
Once again, Kennedy’s private security detail arrested the man – 44-year-old Adrian Paul Aispuro.
“While it is a well-known historical fact, in your case it is apparently worth repeating,” Kennedy’s campaign manager, former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, said at the time.
‘Mr. Kennedy’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. Mr. Kennedy’s father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated while he was a presidential candidate.”
