Getting into politics means putting a lot on the line. Sometimes it can even be your life.
And a shocking attack on this presidential candidate’s home rocked Washington, D.C.
A man was caught twice by Los Angeles police on Wednesday after trying to break into the home of 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the nice Brentwood neighborhood, according to a news release from Kennedy’s campaign.
NBC News reports that Jonathan Macht, 28, of Los Angeles, was named by police and is being held on $30,000 bail for breaking an emergency protective order.
The first incident reportedly happened around 9:30 a.m., when the suspect allegedly climbed a fence and asked to see Kennedy, who was at home with his wife Cheryl Hines.
Kennedy hired a private security company called Gavin de Becker and Associates, who grabbed the man and gave him to the Los Angeles Police Department, the campaign said.
Responding officers arrested the suspect and took him to the West Los Angeles police station, where he was allegedly given a ticket and then let go.
After getting that ticket, the campaign said the man went back to Kennedy’s house and was jailed again while Kennedy and Hines were still there.
The private security company is said to have told the Secret Service several times lately about the suspect, whom they called an “obsessed individual” and shared disturbing messages sent by an unknown person to the candidate.
The Kennedy campaign said, “For several months, the campaign has made formal requests for Secret Service protection, but U.S. Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas has refused to approve the protection.”
“Every presidential administration for 55 years has afforded early protection to candidates who requested it.”
“The Biden administration is the sole outlier,” the campaign added.
Someone who was armed was caught pretending to be a U.S. Marshal at a presidential candidate event in Los Angeles last month.
LA County Sheriff’s Department Inmate Information Center told CBS News that 44-year-old Adrian Paul Aispuro was arrested on an illegal gun charge and was being held on $35,000 bail.
The incident happened at a “Hispanic Heritage” event in Los Angeles at the Wilshire Ebell Theater. Aispuro showed up and said he was part of Kennedy’s security team, the candidate said.
Soon after, police came and arrested Aispuro at the scene, which was only a few miles from where Robert Kennedy, Kennedy’s father, was shot and killed on June 5, 1968.
“The man, wearing two shoulder holsters with loaded pistols and spare ammunition magazines was carrying a U.S. Marshal badge on a lanyard and beltclip federal ID. He identified himself as a member of my security detail. Armed GDBA team members moved quickly to isolate and detain the man until LAPD arrived to make the arrest. I’m also grateful to LAPD for its rapid response,” Kennedy posted on X.
“I’m still entertaining a hope that President Biden will allow me Secret Service protection. I am the first presidential candidate in history to whom the White House has denied a request for protection,” he said.
Kennedy had already called Biden out, saying that the denial of government protection might have been done for political reasons.
Kennedy recently dropped his bid to become the Democratic nominee for president and is now running as an independent.
He said that he was the answer for people who are “fed up with being fooled and ready to take back power” and said that the political divides in the U.S. were “deliberately orchestrated.”
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
