Secret Service Ordered Staff to Not Respond to Head of RFK Jr.’s Private Security


 

Who receives protection?

The Secret Service does not determine who qualifies for protection, nor is the Secret Service empowered to independently initiate candidate protection.

Under 18 U.S.C.' 3056(a)(7), “[m]ajor Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates,” as identified by the Secretary of Homeland Security, are eligible for Secret Service protection.

Title 18 U.S.C' 3056(a)(7) authorizes the U.S. Secret Service to provide protection for major presidential and vice presidential candidates:

• Protection is authorized by the OHS Secretary after consultation with the Congressional Advisory Committee

• The Congressional Advisory Committee includes: Speaker of the House, House Minority Leader, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, and one additional member selected by the others

• Protection under these guidelines should only be granted within one year prior to the general election. Protection more than one year prior to the general election should only be granted in extraordinary, case by case circumstances in consultation with the committee, based on threat assessment and other factors.

Criteria have been established to assist the OHS Secretary and the advisory committee in their decision making (as of 2017). Candidates must:

When determining whether a candidate for the Office of President or Vice President of the United States qualifies as a major candidate, the Secretary has broad discretion and may consider a variety of factors. These factors include, but are not limited to:

1. Whether the candidate has publicly announced his or her candidacy and has filed the appropriate documentation with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and is in compliance with the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, and related laws;

2. Whether the candidate is actively campaigning on a national basis for the office for which his or her candidacy has been announced, as demonstrated by operating a national campaign apparatus, regularly appearing at public events in multiple states, producing and publishing campaign advertisements, and other similar indicia of a campaign;

3. A threat assessment conducted by the Secret Service of general or specific threats directed towards the candidate. (for these purposes, "threats" should be defined as explicit threats of bodily harm to the candidate or indications of inappropriate behavior towards the candidate suggesting potential bodily harm);

4. Whether, during and within an active and competitive major party primary, the most recent average of established national polls, as reflected by the Real Clear Politics National Average or similar mechanism, the candidate is polling at 15% or more for 30 consecutive days;

5. Whether the candidate is the formal or de facto nominee of a major party for President or Vice President;

6. Whether the candidate is an independent or third party candidate for President polling at 20% or more of the Real Clear Politics National Average for 30 consecutive days;

7. Whether the candidate is the Vice Presidential running mate of the above independent or third party candidate

What is the history of candidate/nominee protection?

Candidate and nominee protection was expanded to include major candidates for president and vice president in 1968:

 • Major candidates and their spouses began receiving protection after the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968. PL-90-331 was passed June 6, 1968. (Language since adopted into 3056).

• Prior to this event, candidates and their families did not receive Secret Service protection

• Protection of a candidate/nominee is designed to maintain the integrity of the democratic process and continuity of government

A threat assessment conducted by the Secret Service of general of [sic] specific threats directed towards the candidate (for these purposes, “threats” should be defined as explicit threats of bodily harm to the candidate or indications of inappropriate behavior towards the candidate suggesting potentials [sic] bodily harm);

[Redacted] DHS has received the attached letter from the RFK Jr. campaign requesting protection. The letter references an assessment the campaign has conducted on its own… DHS is seeking input on the appropriate process for response so that they can task/track in their systems appropriately. Once you’ve had a chance to review, please let me know what the preference is so we can stay synced.

As the Recording Secretary for the Candidate Protection Advisory Committee, I write to provide you with the materials compiled by the United States Secret Service (Secret Service) to assist in your review of the request submitted on behalf of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. As set out in the Department of Homeland Security ‘Guidelines for Authorizing Secret Service Protection to U.S. Presidential Candidates’, the Secret Service has prepared an analysis of the factors listed in Section II. The analysis and relevant supporting documents as well as the request for protection are attached. 

Under federal law, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every even-numbered year is election day (“Election Day”) for federal elections. See 2 U.S.C. §§ 1, 7 and 3 U.S.C. § 1.  

Congress recently reaffirmed a single national Election Day when it enacted the Electoral Count Reform Act (“ECRA”). 136 Stat. 5233, 525 (enacted as Div. P., Title I, § 102(b) of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, 117 Pub. L. No. 328, Dec. 29, 2022).  See 3 U.S.C. § 21.

Under the recent Congressional amendments, no extension of Election Day shall be allowed unless there are “force majeure events that are extraordinary and catastrophic” that justify extension. 3 U.S.C. § 21.

Despite Congress’ unambiguous and longstanding statement regarding a single and uniform national Election Day, Mississippi extended Election Day by allowing five additional business days after Election Day for receipt of absentee ballots. See Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-637(1)(a).

No “force majeure events that are extraordinary and catastrophic” currently exist in Mississippi to justify extending the ballot receipt deadline for the November 5, 2024 federal election for Presidential and Vice-Presential Electors. See 3 U.S.C. § 21. 

Counting untimely, illegal, and invalid votes, such as those received in violation of federal law, substantially increases the pool of total votes cast and dilutes the weight of votes cast by Plaintiff’s members and others in support of Plaintiff’s federal nominees.

1. All internal email communications of Mayor Wu, Chief of Equity and Inclusion Cervera, Chief of Staff Chu, Chief People Officer Lawrence, Chief of Human Services Masso, Senior Advisor Osgood, Spokesman Patron, and Chief of Communications Pierre related to the “Electeds of Color Holiday Party,” including but not limited to its planning and invitation list.
2. All internal email communications of all members of the Boston City Council related to the “Electeds of Color Holiday Party.”
3. All budget records related to “Electeds of Color Holiday Party,” including but not limited to invoices, purchase orders, financial statements, agreements and contracts.

It seems like some of the folks who are concerned might also just not have all the information, right?

I can understand someone might be confused or worried if certain people weren’t being invited at all or were being left out of any type of celebration. But I assure you, everyone on the Boston City Council has got an invitation to multiple types of events and holiday parties.

A South-Asian Islamic country well known as a recruiting ground for terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is getting $15 million from the Biden administration to combat climate change. The money will flow through a program called Enabling Environment for Climate Resilience Activity (EECRA) launched by the United States government specifically to create long term systemic shifts in Bangladesh’s climate resilience. The generous allocation is necessary, according to the government, because fully addressing the climate crisis requires long term, transformative changes that affect every aspect of society. And achieving it apparently requires millions of American taxpayer dollars.

Before delving into the new overseas U.S.-funded climate initiative, it is important to provide relevant background about Bangladesh, a hotbed of terrorism. The Muslim nation is a notorious terrorist recruiting ground that hates the U.S. Its history with violent extremism goes back to the 1990s when veterans of the anti-Soviet fight in Afghanistan returned to the country, according to the State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC). In its 2019 report, OSAC writes that ISIS formally announced its foothold in Bangladesh back in 2015 and that anti-Western terrorist groups, some on the U.S. Government’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, are active in Bangladesh, including Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami/Bangladesh (HUJI-B), Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, AI, and ABT. “Terrorist groups continue to communicate their desire to target Westerners in Bangladesh,” according to the OSAC report. “ISIS threatened to continue discovering security gaps and holes to target expats, tourists, diplomats, garment buyers, missionaries, [and] sports teams in Bangladesh.” The State Department has also determined that Bangladesh faces potential threats from returning foreign fighters, citing the return of at least 50 Bangladeshi citizens who traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight for ISIS.

Bangladesh is also notorious for violating human rights, which the U.S. often cites as a deal breaker involving aid to foreign governments. A few years ago, the Treasury Department sanctioned a Bangladesh paramilitary force for committing serious human rights abuses. Known as the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) the group is part of the Bangladeshi government’s war on drugs and threatens U.S. national security interests by undermining the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as the economic prosperity of the people of Bangladesh, according to the U.S. “RAB is a joint task force founded in 2004 and composed of members of the police, army, navy, air force, and border guards,” the Treasury sanction explains, adding that the unit and other Bangladeshi law enforcement are responsible for more than 600 disappearances since 2009, nearly 600 extrajudicial killings since 2018, and torture. “Some reports suggest these incidents target opposition party members, journalists, and human rights activists,” the Treasury document states.

Another alarming tidbit is the surge in Bangladeshi migrants trying to enter the U.S. via Mexico, presumably to conduct attacks. A congressional probe made public a few years ago reveals that migrants from terrorist nations are trying to enter the United States through the southern border at record rates, including an astounding 300% increase in Bangladeshi nationals attempting to sneak into the country through Texas alone. Shortly after the congressional report was released, federal authorities arrested a Mexican-based Bangladeshi smuggler in Houston and charged him with bringing in 15 fellow countrymen through the Texas-Mexico border. His name is Milon Miah and he lives in Tapachula, in the southeast Mexican state of Chiapas bordering Guatemala.

Does this sound like a country that deserves millions of our taxpayer dollars to fight climate change? In the recently issued grant announcement the Biden administration claims there is a “growing climate crisis” in the South-Asian nation and the allocation will support strengthening a policy environment and governance structure favorable for transformational changes in key systems aiming at net-zero emissions and a climate-resilient Bangladesh. The U.S. assures that the climate action it is funding in Bangladesh will distribute resources equally among marginalized social groups and include underrepresented communities that typically are most impacted by climate change. “Climate change planning in Bangladesh is top-down and not inclusive,” according to the grant announcement. “This activity will facilitate prioritizing and elevating the voices of historically excluded communities, including marginalized and underrepresented groups disproportionately affected by climate change.”

For more than a decade, Judicial Watch has been fighting to keep elections free and fair. One of the key weapons in this battle is the National Voter Registration Act. The NVRA directs the states to make “a reasonable effort” to remove from voting rolls “the names of ineligible voters” who have been disqualified from voting due to death or change of residence. States—red and blue, Republican and Democrat—often dodge this responsibility, creating opportunities for election fraud and opening the door to illegal votes swinging close contests.

Judicial Watch holds the states accountable. Legal pressure from Judicial Watch has resulted in the removal of more than four million ineligible voters from voter rolls in New York, California, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Kentucky, Ohio, and elsewhere. As Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton puts it, “cleaner voter rolls mean cleaner elections.”

But the work is far from complete.

Last year, we made inquiries to over a dozen states about their voter rolls. In recent months, we put the District of Columbia, Illinois, and California on notice that federal records investigated by Judicial Watch indicate they are out of compliance with the NVRA. That is, their voter rolls are dirty.

In September, we advised the District of Columbia Board of Elections that according to federal records, the district had removed no—none, zero, nada—voter registrations during the last two-year reporting period due to change of residence. Voters can be removed from the voting rolls for failing to respond to an address confirmation notice and not voting in two consecutive federal elections. “In our experience, and as a matter of common sense,” we noted, “there is no possible way that the DC [Board of Elections] is complying with the NVRA if it removed no registrations.”

The Board of Elections responded quickly. Citing data conversion and staffing issues, DC officials admitted they had not complied with the NVRA. They removed 65,000 ineligible registrations from the voter rolls, promised to remove an additional 38,000, designated another 73,000 as “inactive,” and pledged to do more.

Judicial Watch has considerable experience with dirty voter rolls in California. In 2019, we uncovered 1.6 million inactive voters in Los Angeles County and forced LA to clean up its act.

In October, mining new federal data, we advised California Secretary of State Shirley Weber that the state again was in violation of the NVRA. Data analyzed by Judicial Watch showed that twenty-seven California counties removed five or fewer voter registrations in two-year federal reporting period; that another nineteen counties reported no data at all; and that twenty-one counties “have more voter registrations than citizens of voting age.”

We wrote the California secretary of state that both “common sense and Judicial Watch’s enforcement experience confirm that there is no possible way California has complied with…the key NVRA provision dealing with voters who have changed residence, when forty-six of its fifty-seven counties either removed no or just a few registrations under that provision, or failed to report removals at all, for the past two reporting years.”

In November, we notified the Illinois State Board of Elections that, based on a Judicial Watch analysis of federal reporting data, “your office is currently in violation” of the NVRA.

The numbers reported by Illinois were ludicrously low. Twenty-three Illinois counties each reported removing fewer than fifteen registrations. And thirty-four jurisdictions simply did not bother to report any data at all. The fifty-seven counties contain more than five million registered voters.

With those numbers, there is “no possible way Illinois and the [State Board of Elections] have complied” with key NVRA provisions, we advised state officials.

We also noted that Illinois registration rates were unusually high. We compared federal data on registration rates reported by Illinois to the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate of Illinois citizens over the age of eighteen. Our analysis concluded that “fifteen Illinois jurisdictions have more voter registrations than citizens of voting age.”

More voter registrations than citizens of voting age: that’s an invitation to election fraud.

Illinois is a persistent thorn in the side of free and fair elections. In July, we successfully settled another election integrity lawsuit against the state. State officials had erected significant roadblocks to access voter registration lists sought by state residents—imposing strict limits on citizens’ ability to view and study voter records. This was a clear violation of the NVRA, we said. Illinois’ restrictions—which required reviewing millions of registrations at one time, on a single computer screen, in a single office, during business hours—” make a mockery” of federal law, we argued.

A federal judge agreed. Judicial Watch had made the case that Illinois law “conflicts with … and frustrates the NVRA’s purpose of providing voter information to the public to help ensure the accuracy and currency of voter registration rolls,” wrote U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis.

In another Illinois election integrity case, we went to federal court in 2022 on behalf of Congressman Mike Bost and other voters to stop state officials from extending Election Day for two weeks beyond the date established by federal law. “Despite Congress’ clear statement regarding a single national Election Day,” we noted in our brief, “Illinois has expanded Election Day by extending by 14 days the date for receipt and counting of vote-by-mail ballots.”

“We’re supposed to have an Election Day, not Election Weeks—or months,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. The fourteen-day extension “is illegal, violates the civil rights of voters, and encourages fraud.”

The federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed our case. It accepted the argument of state officials that the fourteen-day extension caused no harm to Bost and others. We appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, saying that the new fourteen-day deadline “inflicted concrete, particular, tangible and intangible injuries,” including considerable expenditures of time and money in increased post-election costs. Read the Judicial Watch legal briefs on the appeal here and here.

Oral arguments at the Seventh Circuit are expected soon, with a ruling by fall.

In Mississippi, as well, Judicial Watch is taking on election laws that seek to extend voting beyond the single day set by Congress. We filed a civil rights lawsuit challenging Mississippi’s law permitting absentee ballots to be received up to five days after Election Day.

Our lawsuit notes that up to 1.7% of ballots cast in Mississippi in 2020 were received after Election Day. “Counting untimely, illegal, and invalid votes, such as those received [in Mississippi] in violation of federal law, substantially increases the pool of total votes cast and dilutes the weight of votes cast” on Election Day.

Judicial Watch is committed to fighting for voting integrity and voting rights anywhere we see a threat to free and fair elections. Stay tuned in the coming months for updates on our cases in Mississippi, Illinois, California, and the District of Columbia.