Despite being a member of a famous Democratic family, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is right at home in MAGA world. Like Trump, RFK Jr. is an entitled and vengeful conspiracy theorist who sides with Putin and January 6th insurrectionists. Even before endorsing Trump, RFK Jr. had adopted a right-wing agenda of appeasing gun extremists, banning abortion, abandoning the environmentalism he claimed to care so much about, and spewing pro-Kremlin talking points. RFK Jr. has a disturbing history of mistreating and committing violence toward women. He has all but admitted to sexually assaulting a babysitter and for years defended members of his family when they were accused – and in some cases found guilty of – assaulting, raping, and killing women and girls. Even before COVID-19, RFK Jr. was most known for his work to spread dangerous conspiracy theories. Since the pandemic, RFK Jr. has only gotten more entrenched in irrational, racist, antigovernment ideas, putting him in league with 9/11 truthers and neo-Nazis.
RFK Jr.’s MAGA Agenda
| From abortion to education, RFK Jr. has long embraced a right-wing agenda that makes him right at home in Trump’s orbit.
As far back as 1978, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been on the record as an opponent of abortion. During his run for the presidency, however, Kennedy has likened his advocacy for women’s right to choose with his opposition to government-mandated vaccines, expressed sympathy for those who oppose abortions and, during a campaign stop, said he had “seen pictures of late-term abortions that are horrifying.” He frequently downplayed the salience of the issue, referring to it as a “trigger issue,” a “little issue,” and a “culture-war issue.” Despite his son risking his life to fight for the Ukrainian cause, RFK Jr. has been an adamant supporter of Russia and its dictator president, Vladimir Putin, in their war against Ukraine. He has falsely laid blame for the war on the United States and its NATO allies and said he would allow Russia to keep whatever land it illegally took from Ukraine. He has been a supporter of the Kremlin’s Western allies like Edward Snowden. RFK Jr. also expressed empathy and solidarity with pro-Trump insurrectionists who tried to overrun the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. His campaign called them “J6 activists” who were “sitting in a Washington DC jail cell stripped of their Constitutional liberties” and has said he would consider pardoning those convicted of crimes related to the insurrection. Similarly, he would not commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election. |
RFK Jr. Opposed Removing Confederate Statues
RFK Jr. Said He Had A “Visceral Reaction” To Removal Of Confederate Statues
May 2024: RFK Jr. Expressed A “Visceral Reaction” To The Removal Of Confederate Statues. According to NBC News, “Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized the removal of Confederate statues in a recent interview, arguing that the people they honor may have had ‘other qualities.’ Speaking Friday on the ‘Timcast IRL’ podcast, Kennedy described a ‘visceral reaction to this destroying history.’ ‘I don’t like it,’ he told conservative podcaster Tim Pool. ‘I think we should celebrate who we are. And that, you know, we should celebrate the good qualities of everybody.’ “ [NBC News, 5/28/24]
RFK Jr. Praised Robert E. Lee And “Other Qualities” Of Confederates
May 2024: RFK Jr. Suggested Confederate Figures Had “Other Qualities” Worth Recognizing. According to NBC News, “Kennedy also pointed to ‘heroes in the Confederacy who didn’t have slaves,’ but he later praised Robert E. Lee, a slave owner, suggesting Lee, the top Confederate general, demonstrated ‘extraordinary qualities of leadership’ that warranted recognition. ‘We need to be able to be sophisticated enough to live with, you know, our ancestors who didn’t agree with us on everything and who did things that are now regarded as immoral or wrong, because they, you know, maybe they had other qualities,’ Kennedy said. “ [NBC News, 5/28/24]
May 2024: RFK Jr. Praised Robert E. Lee For His Leadership Qualities. According to NBC News, “Kennedy also pointed to ‘heroes in the Confederacy who didn’t have slaves,’ but he later praised Robert E. Lee, a slave owner, suggesting Lee, the top Confederate general, demonstrated ‘extraordinary qualities of leadership’ that warranted recognition. ‘We need to be able to be sophisticated enough to live with, you know, our ancestors who didn’t agree with us on everything and who did things that are now regarded as immoral or wrong, because they, you know, maybe they had other qualities,’ Kennedy said. “ [NBC News, 5/28/24]
RFK Jr. Wanted To Ban Abortion
As Early As 1978 RFK Jr. Stated His Opposition To Abortion
1978: RFK Jr. Said He Was “Against Abortion Myself On A Moral Basis.” According to The Washington Post, “Of all the Kennedys, he thinks his aunt, Eunice Shriver, would make a ‘terrific’ president. ‘She’s very bright, well organized, a very good administrator.’ He conceded that she would also be controversial, for such views as her tough anti-abortion stance. ‘I’m against abortion myself on a moral basis, but I have some reservations about how much we can impose our sort of moral ideas and religious beliefs upon other Americans through the law.’” [Washington Post, 8/12/78]
2005: RFK Jr. Said He Was “Pro-Life.” According to Houston Chronicle, “As he talked about the Catholic Church today, Kennedy leaned forward on his couch. He said he is content to focus on elements of the church that he loves, and that he considers many priests to be role models, but he is impatient with the church’s leadership. Kennedy, who describes himself as ‘pro-life,’ appears particularly incensed by the argument put forward by some Catholic bishops that last year’s Democratic nominee for president, Sen. John Kerry, should have been denied Communion because of his support for abortion rights. ‘The debate was a silly one, to try to deprive people of their opportunity to get closer to God, when we should be encouraging people to get closer to God, and to commune with the community,’ Kennedy said.” [Boston Globe, 3/15/05]
August 2023: RFK Jr. Said, “Every Abortion Is A Tragedy,” And He Had “Seen Pictures Of Late-Term Abortions That Are Horrifying.” VIDEO [00:00:00] (AUDIENCE MEMBER): Will you start (inaudible) choice, freedom of choice for women on birth—birth, birth or no birth? DENNIS KUCINICH: Thank you very much. Thanks for the question. Mr. Kennedy? ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: Yeah. The answer to the last question: I think every abortion is a tragedy, but I think we need to trust women. You know, I’ve been fighting for medical freedom and bodily autonomy for all of my life, and I am probably the leading (inaudible). I don’t think the government has the competence to interfere in our own medical decisions, what happens to our bodies. But I also understand both sides of the abortion argument. I’ve seen pictures of late-term abortions that are horrifying, and my family is split on the issue. And I don’t think anybody should be disrespected for their views on this issue. It’s a difficult issue, and it’s difficult for all of us. I believe only – the only good choice or the only choice we have is to trust women. [YouTube, Kelly Carson, 4/11/24]
January 2024: RFK Jr. Said, “I’m Not Happy About Abortions.” VIDEO [01:11:52] HOWIE MANDEL: Abortion. ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: Abortion is a, is a woman’s choice. You know, look, I’ve been a premier leader in this country for many, many years fighting for medical freedom, for autonomy, that people should have autonomy over their own bodies. And, you know, I’m not happy about abortions. I think there—every one is a tragedy. But I think that, you know, the government can’t be the arbiter and that we have to trust women and, you know, ultimately, it’s up to—it’s got to be up to a woman to make that choice. MANDEL: Well as far as giving it to the states or do you think it’s a federal law—would you release, would you return to Roe v. Wade. KENNEDY: I think, I think women should have that right wherever they live. MANDEL: OK. But should it be the state’s decision or a federal? JACKELYN SHULTZ: No. KENNEDY: I think women—I think women should have the right to wherever they live. SHULTZ: He meant, he means completely across the board. MANDEL: OK, all right. Well thank you. SHULTZ: You’re welcome. I clarified— KENNEDY: Thank you. SHULTZ: So that you didn’t have to. [YouTube, Howie Mandel Does Stuff, 1/16/24]
RFK Jr. Said He Would Sign A 15-Week Abortion Ban
RFK Jr. Said He Supported A Federal 15-Week Abortion Ban. According to Politico, “Speaking to NBC from the Iowa State Fair, Kennedy said, ‘I believe a decision to abort a child should be up to the women during the first three months of life,’ but added: ‘Once a child is viable, outside the womb, I think then the state has an interest in protecting the child.’ He said he would sign a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks or 21 weeks of pregnancy if he were elected president.” [Politico, 8/13/23]
- RFK Jr.: “I Think The States Have A Right To Protect A Child Once The Child Becomes Viable.” According to Politico, “NBC reporter Ali Vitali posed a string of abortion questions to Kennedy, who answered ‘yes’ to ‘So you would cap it at 15 weeks?’ She followed up by asking ‘Or 21 weeks?’ to which he said, ‘Yes, three months.’ The exchange continued, and Vitali said: ‘I’m surprised to hear you say you’d cap it.’ Kennedy responded to that last statement by saying, ‘I think the states have a right to protect a child once the child becomes viable, and that right, it increases.’” [Politico, 8/13/23]
Vice President Mike Pence Also Called For A Federal 15-Week Ban
Former Vice President Mike Pence Also Supported A 15-Week Federal Abortion Ban. According to Politico, “Limits on abortion have been widely discussed in the Republican presidential field. Former Vice President Mike Pence, for instance, has called for his fellow GOP presidential candidates to support a 15-week national ban.” [Politico, 8/13/23
RFK Jr.’s Campaign Tried To Walk Back His Support Of A National Abortion Ban
RFK Jr.’s Campaign Claimed He Did Not Support The National Abortion Ban He Endorsed. According to Politico, “But his campaign subsequently said Kennedy did not mean to support any federal limits on abortion. ‘Today, Mr. Kennedy misunderstood a question posed to him by a NBC reporter in a crowded, noisy exhibit hall at the Iowa State Fair,’ his campaign said. ‘Mr. Kennedy’s position on abortion is that it is always the woman’s right to choose. He does not support legislation banning abortion.’” [Politico, 8/13/23]
RFK Jr. Hired As A Campaign Consultant A Trump-Supporting Anti-Abortion Activist And Quoted Her Misleading Abortion Data
Angela Stanton-King Was Hired As A Consultant On RFK Jr.’s Campaign
December 2023-February 2024: Team Kennedy Paid Stanton-King $30,000 For “Campaign Consulting.” According to Federal Election Commission data, Team Kennedy paid Angela Stanton-King, listed as “Angela King,” $30,000 between December 2023 and February 2024—$10,000 on December 8, 2023; January 2, 2024; and February 1, 2024— for “campaign consulting” and reimbursed her for $1,646.37 on February 16, 2024. [FEC, viewed 4/11/24]
RFK Jr. Often Cited Stanton-King’s Misleading Information About Abortions
February 2024: RFK Jr. Said Stanton-King Had “Educated Me About The Fact That 85% Of Abortions Are With Black Women, That A Lot Of The Abortion Clinics Are Put With The Black Neighborhoods, The Fertility Clinics Are All Put In White Neighborhoods.” VIDEO [00:00:00] ANGELA STANTON-KING: One of the conversations that we talk about, Bobby, something that you know is very important to me because you came by and you visited Auntie Angie’s House, was this Black maternal health crisis that we are currently dealing with in this nation, and I think that that’s so important because, you know, if we’re not giving birth to Black babies, we don’t have to worry about anything else impacting Black life. Can you talk to us really quickly about just experience you had with the women that day? And what do you plan to do about that particular issue once you make it in office? ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: Yeah, I mean , there were a whole lot of issues that came out of that evening, and of course I spent a day with you at Angie’s House, and you educated me about the fact that 85% of abortions are with Black women, that a lot of the abortion clinics are put with the black neighborhoods, the fertility clinics are all put in white neighborhoods, and, you know, what you said—and you and I disagree on, you know, some issues about how to regulate abortion, because I just—I’m a medical freedom advocate my whole life, you know, you shouldn’t, the government shouldn’t be telling you what you can, what drugs you need to take and they shouldn’t be telling you what to do with your body. We need to leave it up to the woman—women. But there’s another issue which you really educated me about, which is the amount of money spent funneling women into that corral to get an abortion and the coercion that takes place, which should not take place, and that there are many, many women who are making that choice, which is a life-changing choice for many of them, because they don’t have the access, the money, the resources to bring that baby to term, and I agree 100%. There is nobody in this country who we should say—who should have to make a choice that they don’t, to get an abortion because they don’t have the money to bring their baby to term and that we’re putting all of this money into, you know, making abortion really super accessible, which is fine, but we should spend the same amount of money in making, you know, non-abortion accessible as well for women who just don’t want it for others. [YouTube, Kelly Carson, 4/11/24; Team Kennedy, viewed 4/12/24]
February 2024: RFK Jr. Said Stanton-King Taught Him That “85% Of The Abortions That Take Place In This Country Are Among Black Women, And They—The Institutions Themselves, The Planned Parenthood Facilities Are Most Often Cited In Black Neighborhoods.” VIDEO [00:07:45] ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: Thank you, Angela. And thank you for your, your advocacy on this issue and for your friendship. I—my—as Angela said my orientation, I’ve been one of the leading fighters in this country for medical autonomy, for medical freedom. I don’t think the government—my posture is the government should not be telling people what to do with their bodies. And, but at the same time, I come from a family that is divided between pro-choice and pro-life. My closest mentor in my family was Eunice Shriver, who is very, very much pro-life. I think we all ought to be able to have this conversation and treat each other with respect. And that is the relationship that Angela and I have. And I, I, I also feel like and what I’ve said to Angela and what I’ve learned from her, 85% of the abortions that take place in this country are among Black women, and they—the institutions themselves, the Planned Parenthood facilities are most often cited in Black neighborhoods. And for a lot of these young Black mothers, the choice, the difficult choice to have an abortion is driven by economic indicators, by economic strictures, by the, the difficulty of raising a child. Today, childcare costs on average about 37% of a mother’s income. And we should not be in a situation in this country where any mother is aborting a child because they believe they can’t afford that baby, and we ought to be putting the same amount of resources into making sure nobody has to make that choice as we’re putting in to Planned Parenthood. And that is what I do as president. I you know, my, my view is that we need, I think, the ultimate choice to have an abortion—every abortion is a tragedy, but the ultimate choice should not be with the government. We have to ultimately—it’s never a good choice, it’s never an easy issue—but ultimately we have to trust the mother and her consultations with her pastor, her doctors, but she has to make her own choice. [YouTube, Blacks for Kennedy, 2/15/24]
January 2024: RFK Jr. Said He Had Discussed With Stanton-King That “85% Of The Abortions Are Among Black Women And That, If You Look Where The Planned Parenthood Facilities Are, They’re Invariably In Black Neighborhoods.” VIDEO [00:00:50] ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: My approach even the environmental regulation is free markets. You know, it’s not top-down regulation. And I’ve always been that way. On social issues—gay rights, civil rights, you know, I would say that I’m progressive, that I, you know, I believe that that’s what America’s about. On abortion my position is, you know, I’m a medical freedom advocate, and I have been, you know, probably the leading medical freedom advocate. I believe—I don’t believe the government should—can be telling people what to do with their bodies. Now, I have a very close friendship with Angela Stanton-King, who feels differently than I do about that, and I. I come from a family that was split on that issue. My closest— SHELLEY WYNTER: And we’re talking about the issue of abortion. KENNEDY: Abortion, yeah, you know my closest kind of confidante growing up was my aunt Eunice Shriver, who was opposite of that. WYNTER: Right. KENNEDY: And I respect that. And I think that, you know, those issues need to be voiced and talked about. And what, you know, Angela’s, what we’ve talked a lot about of that is that 85% of the abortions are among Black women and that, if you look where the Planned Parenthood facilities are, they’re invariably in black neighborhoods. And it’s you know, it’s—and my position is. that no woman in this country ought to get an abortion because she can’t afford a baby, you know, because she can’t afford child care. Child care now is 37% of income for average Americans, so if you’re going to raise a child right he’ll bankrupt you, it’ll bankrupt you, and a lot of women are making that choice, and my position is nobody should have to make that choice, that, you know, that we need to be able to offer women options, including, you know, we’re going to help you with childcare. Now that’s— WYNTER: That’s where Angie’s house comes in, a shameless plug for my sister. KENNEDY: Exactly. [YouTube, 95.5 WSB, 1/18/24]
The Claims Were Not True
2021: 42% Of Women Who Had Abortions In 31 States, The District Of Columbia, And New York City—Which Reported The Data To The CDC—Were Black. According to the Pew Research Center, “In the District of Columbia, New York City (but not the rest of New York) and the 31 states that reported racial and ethnic data on abortion to the CDC, 42% of all women who had abortions in 2021 were non-Hispanic Black, while 30% were non-Hispanic White, 22% were Hispanic and 6% were of other races.” [Pew Research Center, 3/25/24]
2022: PolitiFact Rated Candace Owens’s Claim That 79% Of Planned Parenthood Clinics Were In Minority Neighborhoods As “Mostly False.” According to PolitiFact, “Owens claimed that ‘79%’ of Planned Parenthood clinics are in minority neighborhoods. ‘This is not by accident. That is by its founder, Margaret Sanger’s, eugenicist design,’ she said. Data on this matter is dispute, with advocates on each side of the abortion debate arriving at separate conclusions based on different methodology. Sanger has been criticized for supporting eugenics, but scholars say her allegiance to the movement concerned public health, not race. She also was largely opposed to abortion, and none of her clinics performed the procedure until after her death. This statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.” [PolitiFact, 5/18/22]
Stanton-King Was A MAGA Republican Who Was Pardoned By Trump
Stanton-King Ran Against Civil Rights Icon Rep. John Lewis And Accused Him Of Supporting African-American “Genocide”
March 2020: Stanton-King Ran Against U.S. Rep. John Lewis As A Republican. According to WXIA-TV, “An Atlanta woman pardoned In February by President Donald Trump announced Friday she is running for congress against civil rights icon and Georgia Democrat Rep. John Lewis. Angela Stanton-King told 11Alive that she felt compelled to run for office after reflecting on her past, and that it’s a dream come true for her. She qualified Friday for the 5th District race as a Republican.” [WXIA-TV, 3/6/20]
Stanton-King Accused Lewis Of “Receiving Funding For Our Own Genocide,” Referring To The African-American Community, Because He Was “Funded By […] The Number One Killer Of Black Life.” According to WXIA-TV, “’With all respect to Congressman Lewis, when I think about him, I always have that image in my mind when he was on the Selma Bridge,’ she said. ‘The truth of the matter is, with all that he has given towards the fight for civil rights – which we greatly appreciate – these are no longer the days of marching over the Selma Bridge.’ ‘There is a different injustice we are fighting now, and its for the lives of our unborn children,’ Stanton-King continued. ‘I think that it’s important to raise awareness about the fact that forty-six percent of the black population has been aborted, and many of our leaders in congress are funded by Planned Parenthood, which is the number one killer of black life. Unfortunately, Mr. Lewis happens to be one of those congressmen.’ […] ‘How can a dream live if we kill it, right? How many Martin Luther King Jr.s, and Malcom Xs, or Barack Obamas have we aborted?’ she asked. ‘Every time you hear that the majority of Democratic candidates go on stage, they say poor women of color need access to abortion. I was born to a poor woman of color. I was a poor woman of color when I gave birth to my children. Who’s to say that their lives are worth any less than others? So, I think we need to take a different approach to the issue instead of constantly receiving funding for our own genocide.’” [WXIA-TV, 3/6/20]
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Daughter Bernice A. King Wrote That Lewis “Poured Out His Life And Built, Principled Brick By Principled Brick, With Nonviolence Providing Him The Strategy And The Tools. In an op-ed, Bernice A. King wrote: “It was not until later in my life, when I had an opportunity to more diligently study the civil rights movement and observe those who sacrificed their lives, that I better understood the principle and the fortitude required to exemplify the principle. In particular, I came to see that the life of Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis, whom we in my family affectionately called Uncle John, embodied this principle and demonstrated the courage of conviction to live it out. […] For the sake of a divine call, Uncle John poured out his life and built, principled brick by principled brick, with nonviolence providing him the strategy and the tools, a life of steadfast service from Alabama to Washington. He maintained a passionate stance for good in the face of a resurgence of tangible racism in the corridors of the nation’s most hallowed government buildings and across the nation. Uncle John persevered in showing up nonviolently to conflicts in Congress, fighting for people by fighting for the policies that he deemed most just.” [Bernice A. King op-ed, NBC News, 7/21/20]
Stanton-King Was Pardoned By Trump After Spending Two Years In Prison For Her Involvement In A Car-Theft Ring
Trump Pardoned Stanton-King For Her Crimes As Part Of A Car Theft Ring, For Which She Spent More Than Two Years In Prison. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Stanton-King was recently pardoned by President Donald Trump after her 2004 conviction on federal conspiracy charges for her role in a car theft ring. She spent more than two years in prison. […] A native of Buffalo, N.Y., Stanton-King said both her mother and grandmother died while she was in jail. She said that in 2004 she gave birth to a daughter in jail while handcuffed to a bed. In 2007, after serving time in several state prisons, Stanton-King served a six-month home confinement sentence for her role in the stolen-vehicle ring.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/6/20]
February 2020: Stanton-King Said She Had Just “Pardoned By The Greatest President Ever,” A Reference To Trump, During A White House Roundtable With Trump. VIDEO [00:03:18] ANGELA STANTON-KING: Angela Stanton-King. Founder of America Keep Foundation. Recently pardoned by the greatest president ever. [C-SPAN, 2/27/20]
Stanton-King Supported Trump’s Call For The White Supremacist Proud Boys To Prepare For Violence
September 2020: Stanton-King Supported Trump’s Call For The Proud Boys To “Stand Back And Stand By.” According to WXIA-TV, “But during the exchange with Biden and the moderator, Chris Wallace, Trump told the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by’. The Proud Boys is a far-right extremist group that has shown up at protests in the Pacific Northwest. The group describes themselves as “western chauvinists,” and they have been known to incite street violence. […] Angela Stanton-King, Republican candidate for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District: ‘The President has repeatedly condemned white supremacy, specifically saying in the wake of Charlottesville, ‘Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups. I believe the point the President was trying to make in the middle of a fiery debate is that all violence and hate should be condemned, including the leftist groups rioting in major cities across our country.’” [WXIA-TV, 9/30/20]
RFK Jr. Refused To Offer Policy Solutions For Abortion And Downplayed It As An Issue
RFK Jr. Did Not Have Policies For Abortion
April 2024: RFK Jr.’s Campaign Did Not Have A Policy Section Regarding Women Or Abortion. As of April 11, 2024, Team Kennedy’s website did not list under “Policies” anything labeled with the words abortion or women. [Team Kennedy, viewed 4/11/24]
January 2024: RFK Jr. Did Not Directly Answer When Asked Whether The U.S. Should Return To Roe V. Wade Or Leave Abortion Policy Up To States. VIDEO [01:11:52] HOWIE MANDEL: Abortion. ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: Abortion is a, is a woman’s choice. You know, look, I’ve been a premier leader in this country for many, many years fighting for medical freedom, for autonomy, that people should have autonomy over their own bodies. And, you know, I’m not happy about abortions. I think there—every one is a tragedy. But I think that, you know, the government can’t be the arbiter and that we have to trust women and, you know, ultimately, it’s up to—it’s got to be up to a woman to make that choice. MANDEL: Well as far as giving it to the states or do you think it’s a federal law—would you release, would you return to Roe v. Wade. KENNEDY: I think, I think women should have that right wherever they live. MANDEL: OK. But should it be the state’s decision or a federal? JACKELYN SHULTZ: No. KENNEDY: I think women—I think women should have the right to wherever they live. SHULTZ: He meant, he means completely across the board. MANDEL: OK, all right. Well thank you. SHULTZ: You’re welcome. I clarified— KENNEDY: Thank you. SHULTZ: So that you didn’t have to. [YouTube, Howie Mandel Does Stuff, 1/16/24]
November 2023: RFK Jr. Said He Did Not Have Ideas For What President Biden Should Be Doing To Support Abortion Rights After Roe V. Wade Was Struck Down. VIDEO [00:00:00] NAWAZ: So what does that look like as a president in terms of what you could do at the federal level to protect, protect abortion rights? KENNEDY: Uh, uh, tell me what you’re talking about. NAWAZ: What do you think, for example, President Biden could be doing now that he’s not to protect abortion rights after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade? KENNEDY: Well, I’m not, I don’t know what he should be doing other than, you know, I believe that it’s a woman’s right to choose. If you’re asking me am I recommending legislation right now, I’m all ears. [YouTube, PBS NewsHour, 11/7/23]
RFK Jr. Downplayed The Importance Of Abortion As An Issue
Kennedy’s Campaign Website Referred To Abortion As A “Trigger Issue” On Which “Both Sides Have Legitimate Concerns And Legitimate Moral Positions.” According to Team Kennedy, “Kennedy has clear positions on most of today’s divisive trigger issues like abortion, guns, and immigration, but he knows that both sides have legitimate concerns and legitimate moral positions. No one is deplorable. Furthermore, most of the disagreements obscure deeper shared values.” [Team Kennedy via Internet Archive, archived 4/10/24]
April 2024: RFK Jr. Said Whether Former President Trump Or President Biden Won The Election Would Not Would Only Cause “Changes Around The Margins,” Including On “Abortion Or Whatever.” VIDEO [00:25:51] ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: I don’t think that either of them are capable of ending the corporate capture of all of our agencies, the capture of the CIA by the military industrial complex, the capture of NIH, CDC and FDA by the pharmaceutical companies, the capture of the USDA by processed food and big ag. They’re not going to do anything about that. So it’s going to be more of the same. Whoever gets elected, there’s going to be changes around the margins, you know, attacks on abortion or whatever. [YouTube, CNN, 4/1/24]
March 2024: RFK Jr. Referred To Abortion As A “Culture-War Issue” That Was Not “Existential.” VIDEO [00:23:05] ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. I think that President Trump and President Biden are very, very different in terms of their temperament, their personalities. Their ideologies, the language and rhetoric that they use is very, very different. But the issues that they really differ on are mainly culture war issues. They’re the issues of abortion, of guns, the border, and most of the other issues there’s really—the existential issues—and those are important issues. You know, they’re very, very important to many Americans. They should be. But on the existential issues, the issues that could kill this country. There is no difference. There is no capacity to fix those issues. [YouTube, Monique Reymond, 4/3/24; Team Kennedy, viewed 4/11/24]
February 2024: RFK Jr. Said Abortion Was One Of The “Little Issues” “That Are Being Used To Keep Us Apart.” VIDEO [00:28:58] ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: What I said is that my job during my campaign and my—during the eight years of my presidency is to end that rancor and focus on the values that we all share in common as Americans rather than the, you know, these culture war issues that are allowed to keep us—that are being used to keep us apart. And what I’ve found since starting this campaign is that those landscapes that are occupied by the things that that we all feel strongly about are much, much larger than the little issues that, you know, the guns, the abortion, the border, etc., which are all important, but—and climate—if you—it’s much larger. By the way, I’ll give you some examples. I have supporters who are or pro, you know, Second Amendment absolutists and people who are pro-gun control, I have abortion and pro-life supporters. I have vaccinated people and anti-vax. [YouTube, Todd Ault Podcast, 2/9/24]
RFK Jr. Supported January 6 Insurrectionists
RFK Jr.’s Campaign Equated “J6 Activists” Had Been “Stripped Of Their Constitutional Liberties”
April 3, 2024: Team Kennedy Said Those Arrested For Participating In The January 6 Insurrection Were “J6 Activists” And Compared Them To “Political Prisoner” Julian Assange. In an emailed message from the Team Kennedy campaign with the subject line “We Must Free Assange!” and signed “Team Kennedy,” the campaign wrote: “Time is short. We are calling on you to help our campaign help political prisoner Julian Assange regain his freedom once and for all. You see, over the last 72 hours, a British Court put off extraditing Assange to the US Military Authorities on one condition: the US government must assure the Brits that Assange will not face the death penalty for his alleged crimes. We Must Free Assange Now! The Brits want to make sure our government doesn’t kill Assange. This is the reality that every American Citizen faces – from Ed Snowden, to Julian Assange to the J6 activists sitting in a Washington DC jail cell stripped of their Constitutional liberties. Please help our campaign call out the illiberal actions of our very own government. The US Department of Defense is attempting to cover up their war crimes, and for those like Assange who expose the DoD – they are lucky if they escape the death penalty. Think about that a moment: Freedom of the Press = The Death Penalty. In what universe are we living?” [Email, Team Kennedy, 4/3/24]
April 3, 2024: Team Kennedy Said Assange Faced Death At The Hands Of The U.S. Government And Said, “This Is The Reality That Every American Citizen Faces – From Ed Snowden, To Julian Assange To The J6 Activists Sitting In A Washington DC Jail Cell Stripped Of Their Constitutional Liberties.” In an emailed message from the Team Kennedy campaign with the subject line “We Must Free Assange!” and signed “Team Kennedy,” the campaign wrote: “Time is short. We are calling on you to help our campaign help political prisoner Julian Assange regain his freedom once and for all. You see, over the last 72 hours, a British Court put off extraditing Assange to the US Military Authorities on one condition: the US government must assure the Brits that Assange will not face the death penalty for his alleged crimes. We Must Free Assange Now! The Brits want to make sure our government doesn’t kill Assange. This is the reality that every American Citizen faces – from Ed Snowden, to Julian Assange to the J6 activists sitting in a Washington DC jail cell stripped of their Constitutional liberties. Please help our campaign call out the illiberal actions of our very own government. The US Department of Defense is attempting to cover up their war crimes, and for those like Assange who expose the DoD – they are lucky if they escape the death penalty. Think about that a moment: Freedom of the Press = The Death Penalty. In what universe are we living?” [Email, Team Kennedy, 4/3/24]
RFK Jr. Said He Would Consider Pardoning January 6 Convicts But Would Not Commit To Accepting The 2024 Election Results
March 2024: RFK Jr. Said He “Would Look At Individual Cases” When Asked If He Would Pardon January 6 Convicts. According to The Hill, “Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he won’t speak about potentially pardoning the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioters until he wins the general election. Kennedy refrained from sharing much about his approach to those who stormed the Capitol a little over three years ago, saying he would approach it on a case-by-case basis, but he stated he would pardon American intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. ‘I would not comment on that,’ Kennedy told Fox News’s Neil Cavuto in a Tuesday interview when asked if he thought it’d be a ‘good idea’ to pardon any Jan. 6 rioters. ‘You know, that’s not something that I would comment on until I was president of the United States.’ Cavuto asked Kennedy about his preferred approach after mentioning that former President Trump said Monday he would free all Jan. 6 ‘hostages’ if elected back into the White House. […] Cavuto then asked if he would extend that to those who rioted on Jan. 6 and are in jail. ‘I would look at individual cases,’ Kennedy said.” [The Hill, 3/12/24]
November 2023: RFK Jr. Said He Would Consider Pardoning January 6 Rioters. According to The Washington Post, “As president, would you pardon or consider pardoning people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol? Maybe. Kennedy said he would consider pardoning people convicted In connection to Jan. 6. In response to The Post’s questionnaire, Kennedy said, ‘If prosecutorial malfeasance is demonstrated, then yes. Otherwise, no.’” [Washington Post, 11/8/23]
November 2023: RFK Jr. Would Not Commit To Accepting The Results Of The 2024 Election. According to The Washington Post, “’Will you commit today to accepting the certified results of the 2024 election? No. Kennedy did not commit to accepting the certified results of the 2024 election. In response to The Post, Kennedy said, ‘This is not the right question’ and that the focus should instead be on asking how we can ‘make the voting process uncorruptible (sic).’ ‘The fact that your question even needs to be asked points to a serious problem,’ he said.” [Washington Post, 11/8/23]
RFK Jr. Said President Biden, Not President Trump, Was The Biggest Threat To Democracy
April 1, 2024: RFK Jr. Said, “I Can Make The Argument That President Biden Is A Much Worse Threat To Democracy” Than President Trump. According to The Washington Post, “Kennedy was being interviewed by CNN host Erin Burnett. Burnett asked Kennedy if he really felt that there was no important difference between Biden and Trump. ‘I can make the argument that President Biden is a much worse threat to democracy,’ Kennedy replied. ‘The reason for that is President Biden is the first candidate in history, the first president in history that has used the federal agencies to censor political speech, so to censor his opponent. ‘The greatest threat to democracy is not somebody who questions election returns,’ he added a moment later, ‘but a president of the United States who uses the power of his office to force the social media companies, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter to open a portal and give access to that portal to the FBI, to the CIA, to the IRS, to CISA, to NIH to censor his political critics.’” [Washington Post, 4/2/24]
RFK Jr. Sided With Russia
RFK Jr. Took Several Pro-Russian Stances As A Candidate
RFK Jr. Blamed The U.S. For Russia’s War Against Ukraine, Saying Russia “Acted In Good Faith”
RFK Jr.’s Campaign Literature Said He “Opposed US And UK Scuttling Of The Ukraine Peace Deal And Subsequent Arming Of Ukraine.” According to Team Kennedy’s “Presidential Policy Matrix” comparing Robert F. Kennedy, President Biden, and Donald Trump, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. […] Opposed US and UK scuttling of the Ukraine peace deal and subsequent arming of Ukraine. Doesn’t believe Ukraine can beat Russia militarily and supports return to the peace plan and reallocation of these billions of dollars to domestic priorities.” [Team Kennedy via Internet Archive, archived 4/6/24]
June 2023: RFK Jr. Said U.S. Involvement In Russia’s War Against Ukraine Was “Terrible For The Ukrainian People” And That The U.S. Had “Neglected Many, Many Opportunities To Settle This War Peacefully.” According to The Hill, “Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday said the United States’ role in the Russia-Ukraine war is ‘terrible for the Ukrainian people.’ ‘We have neglected many, many opportunities to settle this war peacefully,’ Kennedy said in a live town hall event with NewsNation, moderated by Elizabeth Vargas. ‘I think the way that we have conducted the war is bad … is terrible for the Ukrainian people.’” [The Hill, 6/28/23]
June 2023: RFK Jr. Said The “Russians Were Acting In Good Faith” In Trying To Avoid War With Ukraine And Said The U.S. “Forced […] Zelensky To Sabotage” A Supposed Agreement Between Ukraine And Russia. According to The Hill, “Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested Wednesday that Russia has been ‘acting in good faith’ in various efforts to end the war in Ukraine and placed blame on the U.S. for the 16-month long conflict. Kennedy said in an interview on SiriusXM’s ‘The Briefing with Steve Scully’ that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ‘repeatedly said yes’ to negotiations. ‘In fact, he negotiated, two times he agreed to agreements,’ Kennedy said. ‘He agreed to the Minsk Accord, and then he agreed in 2022 to an agreement that would’ve left Ukraine completely intact.’ The Minsk agreements were two separate international agreements in 2014 and 2015 that sought to end fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Fighting never ended entirely, and Putin claimed that the agreements did ‘not exist’ shortly before launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February. It’s not immediately clear what 2022 agreement Kennedy is referring to. However, the long-shot Democratic candidate accused the U.S. of tanking the negotiations in Wednesday’s interview. ‘It was us who forced [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky to sabotage that agreement. It was already signed,’ Kennedy claimed. ‘So, you know, the Russians were acting in good faith. … So, no, I think we’re the ones who have not been acting in good faith.’ “ [The Hill, 6/22/23]
July 2023: RFK Jr. Said, “Putin, In Good Faith, Began Withdrawing Troops From The Ukraine,” But The U.S. “Sent Boris Johns Over There To Torpedo It Because We Don’t Want Peace. We Want The War With Russia.” According to The Daily Beast, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. debated Fox News host Sean Hannity during a town hall event Tuesday about the United States’ role in the Russia-Ukraine war, with the 2024 presidential candidate claiming that the U.S. had been ‘pushing’ Ukraine into the war. Kennedy Jr., who has made similar comments placing some fault on the U.S. for the current situation, was asked if he trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin. ‘Do I trust Putin? No,’ Kennedy Jr. said. ‘Because of our pushing the Ukraine into the war—‘ he added shortly after, before Hannity sought clarification. ‘We pushed them into it or did Putin invade?’ the Fox host asked. ‘Well, let me answer your question,’ replied Kennedy Jr., who then accused the U.S. of sabotaging the Minsk agreements in 2014 and 2015, which aimed to end the Donbas war yet largely failed to stop the fighting between Russian separatists and Ukraine’s armed forces. ‘Putin, in good faith, began withdrawing troops from the Ukraine. What happened? We sent Boris Johnson over there to torpedo it because we don’t want peace. We want the war with Russia,’ he argued, drawing applause from the audience.” [Daily Beast, 7/25/23]
- Newsweek Debunked Many Of RFK Jr.’s Claims That The U.S. Was Responsible For Russia’s War In Ukraine And That Russia Had Withdrawn Troops. According to Newsweek, “Democratic 2024 presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a series of bold statements on Fox News this week, blaming the U.S. for precipitating the conditions that led to the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Kennedy argued with host Sean Hannity that attempts to de-escalate violence between the Ukrainian Army and Russian separatist forces in the Donbas and Luhansk regions prior to the war had been hamstrung by U.S. involvement that took the journey toward peace off-course. […] Newsweek has put each of the claims it investigated to RFK Jr.’s spokespeople via email. There has been no response as of the time of publication. Unless RFK Jr. can provide substantive proof to support some of his arguments, the claims the Democratic hopeful made on Fox News simply do not match the facts.” [Newsweek, 7/28/23]
May 2023: RFK Jr. Said Russians “Have Repeatedly Offered To Settle” Its War In Ukraine, But The U.S. Wants The War. “FS: That takes us to this pressing question: one thing you talk about a lot is that America is in a permanent state of war and you want to put an end to that. With regard to Ukraine, how do you propose to do that? RFK Jr: Settle it. The Russians have repeatedly offered to settle. If you look at the Minsk accords, which the Russians offered to settle for, they look like a really good deal today. Let’s be honest: it’s a US war against Russia, to essentially sacrifice the flower of Ukrainian youth in an abattoir of death and destruction for the geopolitical ambition of the neocons, oft-stated, of regime change for Vladimir Putin and exhausting the Russian military so that they can’t fight anywhere else in the world. President Biden has said that was his intention — to get rid of Vladimir Putin. His Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, in April 2022, said that our purpose here is to exhaust the Russian army. What does that mean, ‘exhaust’? It means throwing Ukrainians at them. My son fought over there, side-by-side with the Ukrainians and we’ve sacrificed 300,000 of them. The commander of the special forces unit in the Ukraine, which is probably the most elite fighting force in Europe, has said 80% of his troops are dead or are wounded and they cannot rebuild the unit. Right now, the Russians are killing Ukrainians at a ratio of either 1:5 or 1:8, depending on what data you believe.” [UnHerd, 5/3/23]
RFK Jr. Said He Would Allow Russia To Keep Land It Captured In Ukraine
May 2023: RFK Jr. Said He Would Allow Russia To Keep Ukrainian Land It Had Captured Because, For Example, The Donbas Region “Is 80% Ethnic Russian” And Claimed Russians There “Were Being Systematically Killed By The Ukrainian Government.” According to UnHerd, “FS: If you became president you would inherit the situation as it is. Would your policy be to say that Russia can keep the territory it has conquered? You would be accused of surrendering. RFK Jr: What I’m accused of is irrelevant to me, as you may have figured out by now. Let’s do what is sensible, what saves lives. This was supposed to be a humanitarian mission — that’s how they sold it to us in the United States. But that would imply that the purpose of the mission was to reduce bloodshed and to shorten the conflict, and every step that we’ve taken has been to enlarge the conflict and to maximise bloodshed. That’s not what we should be doing. If you look at the Minsk accords, it sets the groundwork for a final settlement. The Donbas region, which is 80% ethnic Russian — and Russians that were being systematically killed by the Ukrainian government — would become autonomous within Ukraine and would be protected. Let’s protect those populations with a United Nations force or whatever we have to do to make sure the bloodshed stops. In addition to that, we need to remove our Aegis missile systems, which house the Tomahawk missiles — nuclear missiles — from 70 miles from the Russian border. When the Russians put nuclear missiles on Cuba, 1,500 miles from Washington DC, we were ready to invade them, and we would have invaded them if they hadn’t removed them. The way they got removed ultimately is: my uncle and father made a deal with Ambassador Brennan and Khrushchev, who they had a close relationship with and they could talk directly to at that point. The deal was: we will remove our Jupiter missiles from Turkey, on your border, because we know that’s intolerable to you.” [UnHerd, 5/3/23]
RFK Jr. Agreed With Russia And Said Ukraine Should Not Be Part Of NATO
RFK Jr. Said The U.S. “Should Also Agree To Keep NATO Out Of Ukraine, Which Is What The Russians Have Asked.” According to UnHerd, “RFK Jr: […] Russia has been invaded twice in the previous 100 years. One could see why they wouldn’t want nuclear missile systems in hostile countries on their border. We should also agree to keep Nato out of Ukraine, which is what the Russians have asked. I think based upon those three points, somebody like me could settle this war. I don’t think the neocons are capable of settling it, nor the people who surround President Biden — because they were the ones who created the problem. I don’t think they’ll ever recognise that.” [UnHerd, 5/3/23]
RFK Jr. Praised Edward Snowden And Julian Assange, Whistleblowers Supported By The Kremlin
Julian Assange’s Website WikiLeaks Declined To Published Documents That Would Embarrass The Russian Government While It Published Documents From Democratic Operatives To Impact The 2016 Election. According to Foreign Policy, “In the summer of 2016, as WikiLeaks was publishing documents from Democratic operatives allegedly obtained by Kremlin-directed hackers, Julian Assange turned down a large cache of documents related to the Russian government, according to chat messages and a source who provided the records. WikiLeaks declined to publish a wide-ranging trove of documents — at least 68 gigabytes of data — that came from inside the Russian Interior Ministry, according to partial chat logs reviewed by Foreign Policy. The logs, which were provided to FP, only included WikiLeaks’s side of the conversation. ‘As far as we recall these are already public,’ WikiLeaks wrote at the time. ‘WikiLeaks rejects all submissions that it cannot verify. WikiLeaks rejects submissions that have already been published elsewhere or which are likely to be considered insignificant. WikiLeaks has never rejected a submission due to its country of origin,’ the organization wrote in a Twitter direct message when contacted by FP about the Russian cache.” [Foreign Policy, 8/17/17]
September 2022: Vladimir Putin Granted Snowden Russian Citizenship. According to NPR, “Former National Security Agency contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden has been granted Russian citizenship. The news was confirmed in a decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin posted Monday to the Kremlin’s website.” [NPR, 9/26/22]
RFK Jr. Reportedly Told Friends That Russian President Vladimir Putin Enlisted Him As An Advisor
2008: New York Post Reported RFK Jr. Told Friends He Had Been Enlisted By Russian President Vladimir Putin To Advise Him On Environmental Issues. “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin? So says the New York Post, which reports that the eco-activist—now on vacation in Aspen, of course—is telling friends that he’s been enlisted by Putin to help clean up the heavily polluted country. Though he continues to oppose the wind-power project known as Cape Wind, Kennedy does have considerable cred among environmental types: He founded Riverkeeper, which is credited with helping to clean up the Hudson River.” [Boston Globe, 1/3/08]
RFK Jr., Despite His Reputation As An Environmentalist, Owned Stakes In A company That Leased Land For Oil And Gas Drilling
RFK Jr. Claimed To Be An Environmental Activist
RFK Jr.’s Campaign Touted His “Career As Environmental Lawyer” And Being Designated By TIME Magazine As A “Hero Of The Planet.” According to Team Kennedy, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent most of his career as an environmental lawyer, suing big polluters and government agencies that failed to enforce the law. By the early 2000s, he had become one of the most influential environmentalists in the United States, designated by TIME magazine as a ‘Hero of the Planet.’ RFK Jr.’s success came from uniting liberal environmentalists with conservative rod-and-gun folks who shared a desire for a clean, healthy environment. As President, he will bring the same commitment and coalition-building to address the most pressing environmental problems in America and beyond.” [Team Kennedy, Viewed 3/7/24]
RFK Jr.’s Campaign Walked Back His Statement That He Would Ban Fracking As President
September 15, 2023: RFK Jr. Said As President He Would “Ban Fracking.” “Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., while announcing his 10-point plan to end the plastics pollution crisis, said he would ban fracking. […] But tucked into the mix of ideas Kennedy suggested was one that gained a lot of criticism on social media. ‘I will ban fracking, which provides the feedstock for most of the plastics produced in the U.S.,’ Kennedy said.” [Fox News, 9/17/23]
September 19, 2023: RFK Jr.’s Campaign Said He Would Not Immediately Ban Fracking But That “Existing Productive Oil And Gas Fields Will Only Be Phased Out As Suitable Alternatives Are Available.” According to Fox News, “Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s presidential campaign walked back his promise to ban hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, as part of his plan to combat plastic pollution. In a statement to Fox News Digital, the campaign said Kennedy, if elected president, would implement a ‘phase out’ of fracking which would be achieved by ending taxpayer-funded subsidies for the industry and allowing the free market to work. The statement appears to soften Kennedy’s social media post last week, when he vowed to ‘ban’ fracking to ‘fix the plastics pollution crisis.’ […] ‘He believes that fracking, at least in most locations, will no longer be viable when the practice does not receive direct or indirect subsidies, and instead is exposed to the free market,’ the statement continued. ‘Existing productive oil and gas fields will only be phased out as suitable alternatives are available, so that people and the economy can transition smoothly to new technologies.’” [Fox News, 9/19/23]
RFK Jr. Reported Owning Stakes In Arctic Royalty LP
2023: RFK Jr. Reported Owning Stakes In Arctic Royalty LP, Which Leased Land For Oil And Gas Rights, Valued At Between $31,003 And $115,000. According to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s personal financial disclosure, he had ownership in three family trusts that had a stake in Arctic Royalty LP, which leased land for “oil & gas rights.” RFK Jr. valued his stake in Arctic Royalty LP at between $31,003 and $115,000 and his income from his ownership at between $17,759 and $29,257 for the period ranging from January 1, 2022, and August 28, 2023. [Robert F. Kennedy Jr., OGE Form 278e, Amended 8/28/23]
- RFK Jr. Reported Owning The Stake Through “Family Trust #1,” Which Was Identified As “Robert F Kennedy, Jr 1986 Trust.” According to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s personal financial disclosure, he was a trustee of Robert F Kennedy, Jr 1986 Trust, which he labeled as “Family Trust #1.” In the disclosure, he reported owning a stake in Arctic Royalty LP through “Family Trust #1,” “Family Trust #2,” and “Family Trust #3.” [Robert F. Kennedy Jr., OGE Form 278e, Amended 8/28/23]
Arctic Royalty LP Leased Land To Dozens Of Oil And Gas Companies
1985: Arctic Royalty LP Was Formed As A Limited Partnership In Delaware. According to the Oklahoma Secretary of State’s business entity search, Arctic Royalty Limited Partnership was formed on January 15, 1985. [Oklahoma Secretary of State, Viewed 3/7/24]
March 2024: Arctic Royalty Was Actively Registered To Do Business In Texas, Florida, And New York. As of March 7, 2024, Arctic Royalty LP’s business registration was active in Texas, Florida, and New York; canceled in Oklahoma; and forfeited in Kansas. [Delaware Division of Corporations, Viewed 3/7/24; Oklahoma Secretary of State, Viewed 3/7/24; Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Viewed 3/7/24; Florida Division of Corporations, Viewed 3/7/24; Kansas Secretary of State, Viewed 3/7/24; New York Department of State, Viewed 3/7/24]
Arctic Royalty LP Leased Land To Occidental Petroleum In Texas. According to property records in Yoakum and Dawson counties in Texas Arctic Royalty LP leased at least five parcels of land to Occidental Permian Ltd. and at least two parcels of land to OXY USA WTP LP, as of March 2024. Occidental Permian Ltd. and OXY USA WTP LP are subsidiaries of Occidental Petroleum Corp. [Occidental Petroleum Corp., SEC Form 10-K, 2/14/24; Dawson County Appraisal District, Property ID 9713103, Viewed 3/7/24; Dawson County Appraisal District, Property ID 9713102, Viewed 3/7/24; Yoakum County Appraisal District, Property ID 135313, Viewed 3/7/24; Yoakum County Appraisal District, Property ID 113288, Viewed 3/7/24; Yoakum County Appraisal District, Property ID 122459, Viewed 3/7/24; Yoakum County Appraisal District, Property ID 126529, Viewed 3/7/24; Yoakum County Appraisal District, Property ID 144005, Viewed 3/7/242023: ]
Arctic Royalty LP Leased Land To At Least 36 Different Companies, Including Devon Energy And Phillips 66. According to Caroline B. Kennedy’s personal financial disclosure, Arctic Royalty LP leased land to at least 36 different companies in Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. [Caroline B. Kennedy., OGE Form 278e, 5/10/23]
RFK Jr. Pushed Right-Wing Border Policies
RFK Jr. Vowed To “Seal” The Southern Border
RFK Jr. Said He Would ‘Seal” The U.S.-Mexico Border “Permanently.” According to NPR, “While Kennedy is running as a Democrat, promising to ‘heal the divide’ in American politics, many of his views are out of step with the mainstream. Americans of both parties resoundingly support childhood vaccines. His extremely isolationist positions on immigration and foreign policy sound more like a candidate in the Republican primary. He says he would ‘seal the [U.S.-Mexico] border permanently’ and blames the U.S. for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying Moscow acted in ‘good faith.’” [NPR, 7/13/23]
RFK Jr. Supported Texas’s Defiance of The federal Government
January 2024: RFK Jr. Supported Texas’ Refusal To Follow The Supreme Court’s Order To Give Federal Access To The Border. According to The Hill, “Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday backed Texas in its ongoing battle with the federal government over border authority, criticizing the Biden administration for its handling of the U.S. southern border. ‘Texas is right. Biden’s failure to secure the border leaves states no choice but to take matters into their own hands,’ Kennedy wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. ‘As President, I will end this humanitarian crisis once and for all. I will secure the border and destroy the business model of the drug cartels. A country without borders is not a country at all.’ Kennedy joins a growing list of politicians, most of them Republican, who have thrown their support behind Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) fight against the federal government over the fencing and razor wire installed by Texas at the U.S.-Mexico border.” [The Hill, 1/25/24]
RFK Jr. Called For Strategically Increasing Border Wall And Adding More Border Patrol Staffing And Asylum Judges
June 2024: RFK Jr. Advocated For Closing Gaps In The Border Wall At Strategic Locations. According to KOCO, “We have to plug those 27 gaps in the wall. You don’t need a 25-foot wall from Brownsville, Texas, 2,200 miles to San Diego, but you do need it in the urban areas where migrants can come across and disappear very quickly,” said Kennedy. [KOCO, 6/25/24]
June 2024: RFK Jr. Proposed Increasing Border Patrol Staffing And Adding More Asylum Judges. According to KOCO, “Kennedy also wants to increase border patrol staffing, and add more asylum judges.” [KOCO, 6/25/24]
RFK Jr. Wanted To “Seal” Southern Border, Finish Border Wall, Expand Legal Immigration, And Continue Trump’s “Remain In Mexico” Policy
RFK Jr. Planned To “Seal” Southern Border, In Part By Finishing Border Wall Construction. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Kennedy has said he would ‘seal’ the southern border […] Ms. Spear said Mr. Kennedy’s plan was to finish the wall construction, relying on technology in places where a physical wall is not necessary.” [New York Times, 6/14/24]
RFK Jr. Endorsed Trump’s “Remain In Mexico” Policy. According to the New York Times, “He has endorsed Mr. Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, that the Biden administration had tried to end.” [New York Times, 6/14/24]
RFK Jr. Supported Charter Schools
RFK Jr. Called For More Charter Schools. In an interview with Christal Jordan Kennedy said, “First, fix the education system. We need education choice. We need the capacity to expand the charter schools.” [Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Christal XO, 1/29/24]
Charter Schools Divert Money From Public Schools, Increase Segregation, And Lead To Worse Educational Outcomes
Charter Schools Divert Money From Public Schools. According to Chalkbeat, “Here’s the short of it: Charter schools really do divert money from school districts. Those districts can make up for that by cutting costs over time. But the process of doing so is often fraught, especially because the most straightforward way to reduce costs is to close schools.” [Chalkbeat, 6/11/19]
Charter Schools Increased Educational Segregation. According to the Associated Press, “Charter schools are among the nation’s most segregated, an Associated Press analysis finds — an outcome at odds, critics say, with their goal of offering a better alternative to failing traditional public schools. National enrollment data shows that charters are vastly over-represented among schools where minorities study in the most extreme racial isolation. As of school year 2014-2015, more than 1,000 of the nation’s 6,747 charter schools had minority enrollment of at least 99 percent, and the number has been rising steadily. The problem: Those levels of segregation correspond with low achievement levels at schools of all kinds. In the AP analysis of student achievement in the 42 states that have enacted charter school laws, along with the District of Columbia, the performance of students in charter schools varies widely. But schools that enroll 99 percent minorities — both charters and traditional public schools — on average have fewer students reaching state standards for proficiency in reading and math.” [Associated Press, 12/03/17]
Segregated Charter Schools Led To Worse Educational Outcomes. According to the Associated Press, “Charter schools are among the nation’s most segregated, an Associated Press analysis finds — an outcome at odds, critics say, with their goal of offering a better alternative to failing traditional public schools. National enrollment data shows that charters are vastly over-represented among schools where minorities study in the most extreme racial isolation. As of school year 2014-2015, more than 1,000 of the nation’s 6,747 charter schools had minority enrollment of at least 99 percent, and the number has been rising steadily. The problem: Those levels of segregation correspond with low achievement levels at schools of all kinds. In the AP analysis of student achievement in the 42 states that have enacted charter school laws, along with the District of Columbia, the performance of students in charter schools varies widely. But schools that enroll 99 percent minorities — both charters and traditional public schools — on average have fewer students reaching state standards for proficiency in reading and math.” [Associated Press, 12/03/17]
RFK Jr. and Mistreating Women
| RFK Jr. was accused of criminal behavior against women, adding to his disturbing history of inappropriate behavior towards women. In 2024, a woman who worked as a babysitter for the Kennedys said that in 1998, when she was 23, RFK Jr. sexually assaulted and harassed her repeatedly. RFK Jr. outrageously responded to the claim by reaching out to the victim personally and telling interviewers that he was not a “church boy” and that he had a “rambunctious youth.” He was 45 years old at the time.
In his 2015 book RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, Jerry Oppenheimer reported that multiple women said RFK Jr. had touched them inappropriately or exposed himself to them. RFK Jr. also staunchly defended three of his relatives who were accused of crimes against women or girls:
|
RFK Jr. Was Accused Of Sexually Assaulting A Babysitter
RFK Jr.’s Former Babysitter Said He Sexually Assaulted Her
RFK Jr.’s Former Babysitter Eliza Cooney Alleged He Sexually Assaulted Her. According to Vanity Fair, “A few months later, Cooney says, she was rifling through the kitchen pantry for lunch after a yoga class, still in her sports bra and leggings, when Kennedy came up behind her, blocked her inside the room, and began groping her, putting his hands on her hips and sliding them up along her rib cage and breasts. ‘My back was to the door of the pantry, and he came up behind me,’ she says, describing the alleged sexual assault. ‘I was frozen. Shocked.’ He was interrupted by a worker who entered the kitchen. To announce his presence, the man, according to Cooney, said something like, ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,’ or ‘Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want your wife to know about.’” [Vanity Fair, 7/2/24]
- Cooney Considered Filing A Lawsuit In 2023 But Decided Against It. According to Vanity Fair, “In the spring of 2023, after Kennedy announced he was running against Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, she told two close friends and a lawyer, Elizabeth Geddes, who had prosecuted the rapper R. Kelly. Geddes suggested Cooney could still bring a civil suit against Kennedy under the Adult Survivors Act, but Cooney ultimately decided against it. His candidacy for president impelled her to share her story publicly now.” [Vanity Fair, 7/2/24]
1998: RFK Jr.’s Babysitter Wrote In Her Diary That He Touched Her On Her Hands And Legs. According to Vanity Fair, “One night Cooney attended a meeting in the family kitchen with Kennedy and another young Riverkeeper volunteer named Murray Fisher to discuss business when she felt Kennedy’s hand moving up and down her leg under the table. She tried making sense of the incident in her diary, which I have read. In an entry dated November 7, 1998, she wrote: ‘From everything everybody says about the Kennedys + their Babysitters, they had me worried. Like I have to watch out, be careful. And the other night in the kitchen w/ Murray I could have sworn he was touching my leg + hand. It seemed like he thought I was somebody else or wasn’t paying attention. Like he would come to every once in a while and snap out of it or I would move away. It was like he was on something or really tired or was missing Mary or was testing me.’ ‘In the back of my mind, I was hoping it wasn’t what it actually was,’ says Cooney, now 48. (Reached for comment, Fisher says he worked closely with Cooney and liked her, but wasn’t aware of her alleged experiences with Kennedy at the time, and feels bad for her.)” [Vanity Fair, 7/2/24]
- RFK Jr. Read His Babysitter’s Diary And Then Asked Her To Rub Lotion On His Back. According to Vanity Fair, “Weeks later, she discovered Kennedy standing in her bedroom. She saw that her diary, which chronicled her daily activities and detailed her romantic life with a boyfriend, was open next to her bed. And she was shocked when a shirtless Kennedy, then 45, asked her to rub lotion on his back. “I thought, Isn’t Mary home?” she recalls. “Doesn’t she do this for you?” She did it reluctantly and quickly. “It was totally inappropriate,” she says, adding that she stopped recording these experiences in her journal, fearing Kennedy would read them.” [Vanity Fair, 7/2/24]
In Response To Sexual Assault Allegations, RFK Jr. Said, “I Am Not A Church Boy,” And That He Had A “Rambunctious Youth”
July 2024: RFK Jr. Defended Himself Against Allegations Of Sexual Assault By Stating “I Am Not A Church Boy.” According to The Independent, “Robert F Kennedy Jr has defended himself against allegations of sexual assault by a former babysitter saying, ‘I am not a church boy.’” [The Independent, 7/3/24]
July 2024: RFK Jr. Acknowledged His “Rambunctious Youth” And Said “I Have So Many Skeletons In My Closet That If They Could All Vote, I Could Run For King Of The World.” According to The Independent, “Listen, I have said this from the beginning. I am not a church boy. I am not running like that,” he added. “I had a very, very rambunctious youth. I said in my announcement speech that I have so many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote, I could run for king of the world.” [The Independent, 7/3/24]
July 2024: RFK Jr. Accused Vanity Fair Of “Recycling 30-Year-Old Stories” By Reporting On The Assault. According to The Independent, “He accused Vanity Fair of ‘recycling 30-year-old stories.’“ [Independent, 7/3/24]
RFK Jr. Texted An Apology To The Victim ANd Suggested They Meet
July 2024: RFK Jr. Suggested Meeting In-Person With Eliza Cooney In A Text Message Apology. According to The Washington Post, “Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has privately apologized to a woman who accused him of sexual assault, saying he does not remember the alleged incident and that any harm he caused was ‘inadvertent.’ […] ‘I have no memory of this incident but I apologize sincerely for anything I ever did that made you feel uncomfortable or anything I did or said that offended you or hurt your feelings,’ Kennedy wrote in a text message to Cooney sent at 12:33 a.m. on July 4, two days after her accusations became public. ‘I never intended you any harm. If I hurt you, it was inadvertent. I feel badly for doing so.’ He added, ‘If you feel comfortable, Id [sic] like to tell you this by phone, and preferably, face to face. I recognize that this might not be possible. I have no agenda for sending this text other than making the most sincere and ernest [sic] amends.’” [Washington Post, 7/12/24]
- Cooney Dismissed RFK Jr.’s In-Person Meeting Idea Asking, “What Woman Wants To Do That?” According to Washington Post, “In an interview with The Post, Cooney, now 48, voiced incredulity that Kennedy would claim not to remember the incident and said she believed his efforts to contact her were meant as damage control rather than a genuine expression of remorse. ‘It was disingenuous and arrogant,’ Cooney said of his message. ‘I’m not sure how somebody has a true apology for something that they don’t admit to recalling. I did not get a sense of remorse.’ She said she was also disturbed by Kennedy’s suggestion that they meet in person. ‘Meet ‘face to face?’ What woman wants to do that?’ Cooney said.” [Washington Post, 7/12/24]
RFK Jr. Was Known To Text Pictures Of Nude Women That He Had Supposedly Taken To Friends
RFK Jr. Was Known To Text Pictures Of Nude Women To Friends And “Panicked” When One Lost Their Phone. According to Vanity Fair, “When Kennedy was married to his second wife, Mary Richardson, he was known to text other damning images to friends as well—of nude women. Those friends assumed Kennedy himself had taken the pictures, but they didn’t know whether the subjects had consented to having their genitalia photographed, let alone shared with other people. When one friend lost his phone, he panicked that somebody might discover the images.” [Vanity Fair, 7/2/24]
RFK Jr. Reportedly Touched And Exposed Himself To Women Without Their Consent
Jerry Oppenheimer Wrote That A Woman Whom Attended Alcoholics Anonymous With RFK Jr. And His Wife Said RFK Jr. Made A “Sexual Advance” Toward Her And That During A Dinner He “Touch[ed]” Her Leg Under The Table. In RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, Jerry Oppenheimer wrote, “For instance, when Bobby was still married to Emily Black Kennedy in the late 1980s, she had been accompanying him to his Alcoholics Anonymous twelve-step program for couples in recovery in the village of Bedford near their home in Mount Kisco. A member of that group recalled how Bobby had made a ‘sexual advance’ that she termed ‘a typical Kennedy thing.’ He had invited himself to her home for a party, and throughout dinner Bobby was ‘touching’ her leg. But that wasn’t enough. As the hostess later learned, he had been doing the same thing to her friend who was seated on the other side of him. That kind of behavior continued, according to a trusted friend of Mary’s. ‘He would be at the dinner table and his hands would go all up their legs or skirts and they just laughed. The Kennedy aura kept them from saying, “You’re an asshole.”’ [RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, page 323, 2015]
Jerry Oppenheimer Wrote That RFK Jr. Exposed Himself In Front Of His Wife, Mary, And Her Friend. In RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, Jerry Oppenheimer wrote, “There was other ‘inappropriate behavior’ on the Kennedy scion’s part, such as when, on at least one occasion, he strutted around the family home with a towel wrapped around his waist, then was said to have dropped it, exposing his genitals, and embarrassing Mary and a friend of hers who was present.” [RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, page 323, 2015]
RFK Jr. Defended Family Members Accused Of Having Sex With And Murdering Teenage Girls And Raping Women
RFK Jr. Defended His Brother Michael Kennedy After It Became Public That He Had An Ongoing Sexual Relationship With An Underage Girl
April 25, 1997: The Boston Globe Reported That Michael Kennedy Was Involved In A Relationship With His Children’s Babysitter Beginning When She Was 14. According to The Boston Globe, “The Kennedy family, which at times has had its political success tarnished by scandals involving women, appears to be facing a new controversy with Michael Kennedy, son of late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, at its center. The allegations concern a then-underage girl whose parents, June and Paul Verrochi, were close friends of Michael and his wife, Victoria Gifford Kennedy, in Cohasset. The girl was a baby sitter for the couple’s children for seven years. According to neighbors who know both families well and other sources, Michael Kennedy became involved with the young woman, now a 19-year-old college freshman, when she was 14. If the relationship turned sexual before the girl turned 16, it would constitute statutory rape under Massachusetts law. […] In 1995, just two months after Kennedy finished running his uncle’s Senate campaign, his wife discovered the two in bed, friends said.” [Boston Globe, 4/25/97]
July 1997: RFK Jr. Said Michael Kennedy “Did Not Violate The Law” Despite Having An Ongoing Sexual Relationship With An Underage Girl. According to the Boston Herald, “Norfolk County District Attorney Jeffrey A. Locke yesterday shut down his 10-week investigation of Michael L. Kennedy’s affair with a teenage babysitter, effectively closing the latest lurid chapter in the Kennedy family saga. But Locke left the door open for the babysitter, now 19, to change her mind and bring charges against the 39-year-old son of slain Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The statute of limitations in the case doesn’t expire for 12 years. ‘The victim and her family know where we are,’ Locke said. […] Speaking for the family, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Michael’s older brother, also said he did not believe his brother had illegal sex with the teen. ‘Without excusing his behavior in the least, I firmly believe that he did not violate the law,’ the statement said. ‘Michael is obtaining the help he needs and making a genuine effort to make amends for the harm he has caused others.’ But at least one family member told the district attorney that Kennedy had bedded the sitter when she was underage. Michael Skakel, Michael Kennedy’s cousin, told Locke that the babysitter confided to him that she and Kennedy had sex about four times when she was 14 and 15 years old.” [Boston Herald, 7/9/97]
July 1997: RFK Jr. Claimed He Confronted Michael Kennedy About The Relationship In 1996. According to The Boston Globe, “Last full, US Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II asked a younger brother to try to persuade Michael L. Kennedy to end his relationship with a teenage baby sitter, that brother said yesterday. ‘We talked about the issue and what to do, and Joe asked me to speak to Michael about it, which I did,’ Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the Globe yesterday. He said Joseph Kennedy brought up the subject at a Cape Cod golf tournament honoring their father, Robert F. Kennedy, on October 19 in Hyannis Port. […] ‘He came to me because of my own history of recovery from addiction, and my experience in helping other family members who were battling those kind of issues,’ he said. […] Robert Kennedy bristled at suggestions he and other family members had been nonchalant. ‘This was something of deep concern to me and every other member of my family that had knowledge about it at the time,’ he said. ‘I was not the only one who confronted Michael at that time..’” [Boston Globe, 7/9/97]
RFK Jr. Defended His Cousin William Kennedy Smith When He Was Charged With Raping A Woman At The Florida Kennedy Compound
May 1991: William Kennedy Smith Was Charged With Raping A Woman At The Kennedy Compound In Palm Beach, Florida, On March 30, 1991. According to The Boston Globe, “A county prosecutor here yesterday ordered the arrest of William Kennedy Smith on charges of battery and sexual battery in connection with the alleged rape of a 29-year-old woman at the Kennedy compound March 30. Smith forced the woman to have intercourse despite her ‘struggling and telling him no and to stop,’ the county prosecutor, David Bludworth, said in a probable cause petition filed yesterday. Smith, the petition said, responded by pushing the woman’s hand away and telling her to ‘stop it, bitch.’” Boston Globe, 5/10/91]
December 1991: Smith Was Acquitted Of Sexual Battery And Battery Charges. “William Kennedy Smith was acquitted of rape today by a jury that deliberated for 77 minutes after hearing an impassioned closing argument by his attorney who said the sexual encounter that prompted the allegation was ‘right out of a romance novel.’ As the verdict was announced in a tense, hushed courtroom after 10 days of testimony, Smith leapt from his chair and embraced Roy E. Black, his lead attorney. Four of the six jurors, including the foreman, wept openly as they glanced across the courtroom at Smith, smiling broadly at relatives and friends seated behind him. Throughout the day of rebuttal testimony and closing arguments, Smith, 31, looked haggard and pensive. But he brightened like a light bulb as the court clerk twice intoned ‘not guilty,’ freeing him from the felony sexual battery and misdemeanor battery charges lodged against him last May.” [Washington Post, 12/12/91]
December 1991: RFK Jr. Said The Prosecutor In The Case Against Smith “Took The Word Of A Woman Who Clearly Has Some Sad And Serious Emotional Problems And Made A Case Of It.” According to The Washington Times, “William Kennedy Smith testified yesterday he was ‘foolish and irresponsible’ to have sexual intercourse with a woman who ‘wasn’t very stable,’ but he denied raping her. Mr. Smith said the woman approached him at Au Bar nightclub, offered to drive him home, then willingly participated in sex acts both on the beach and on the lawn of the Kennedy compound. […] ‘You left your fingerprints on her body on the night of March 30, and you didn’t even know it, did you?’ asked prosecutor Moira Lasch. […] At an afternoon break, Robert Kennedy Jr., a former prosecutor himself who once pleaded guilty to heroin use, bashed Mrs. Lasch. After saying the role of a prosecutor is to seek the truth, he added: ‘I think that this prosecutor had a different agenda. She took the word of a woman who clearly has some sad and serious emotional problems and made a case of it.’” [Washington Times, 12/11/91]
RFK Jr. Defended His Cousin Michael Skakel Who Was Charged With The Murder Of Martha Moxley When Both Skakel And Moxley Were 15
January 2000: RFK Jr.’s Cousin Michael Skakel Was Charged With The Murder Of Martha Moxley In 1975, When Both Skakel And Moxley Were 15. According to The New York Times, “Nearly 25 years after 15-year-old Martha Moxley was bludgeoned to death on the lawn of her family home here, the police today charged Michael Skakel, her former friend and neighbor and a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, in the slaying. But in a legal twist that is sure to lead to further complications in the highly publicized case, Mr. Skakel, 39, was charged as a minor because he was 15 at the time of the October 1975 killing in Belle Haven, a gated section of this affluent town.” [New York Times, 1/20/00]
June 2000: RFK Jr. Said Of Martha Moxley’s Murder, “This Is A Horrible, Unspeakable Tragedy, But It Only Compounds It To Blame Michael Skakel, Who Is Innocent.” According to Associated Press State & Local Wire, “But Moxley’s brother, John, later pointed out that Skakel has not had a completely clean record since the killing, citing his arrest in 1978 in Windham, N.Y., after leading police on a high-speed chase. He was sent to Elan shortly after that incident. Earlier Wednesday, members of the Kennedy clan turned out to support Skakel, including two of his cousins – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Douglas Kennedy, both sons of Robert F. Kennedy. ‘This is a horrible, unspeakable tragedy, but it only compounds it to blame Michael Skakel, who is innocent,’ Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said.” [Associated Press, 6/29/00]
August 2002: RFK Jr. Wrote In A Letter To The Judge In Michael Skakel’s Case That Michael A “Small Sensitive Child – The Runt Of The Litter With A Harsh And Occasionally Violent Alcoholic Father Who Both Ignored And Abused Him.” According to the New York Times, “After the hearing, in which the judge sentenced Mr. Skakel to 20 years to life in prison, Mr. Skakel’s lawyer, Michael Sherman, was asked by reporters why the Kennedys had not demonstrated their support by showing up in person today. ‘Why didn’t we parade the Kennedys?’ he said. ‘We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t.’ He added that ‘that’s why we took all the time to read’ the letter from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The letter from Mr. Kennedy, who attended the trial at least once, portrayed Michael Skakel as someone who had surmounted tremendous odds to remain sober and to help others do the same. ‘I know Michael as well as one person can know another,’ Mr. Kennedy wrote to the judge. ‘He helped me get sober in 1983.’ Michael, he wrote, was a ‘small sensitive child – the runt of the litter with a harsh and occasionally violent alcoholic father who both ignored and abused him.’ He also described how Michael, after a drunken driving accident at 17, was at his father’s behest ‘kidnapped by four tattooed goons and shipped to reform school,’ where he was ‘beaten, tortured and brutalized’ for two years. ‘Many people might be poisoned by resentments after such agonizing experiences,’ he wrote. ‘Michael has never given in to bitterness. Instead, he has used these episodes to help and heal others.’” [New York Times, 8/30/02]
January 2005: RFK Jr. Said The Prosecution’s Case Against Skakel Was Built On A “Fantasy” That “Somehow A Well-Connected Family Has Manipulated The Law And Allowed A Member Of That Family To Avoid Justice.” According to Associated Press State & Local Wire, “A former police officer who sat on the jury that convicted Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel of murder now says he has doubts about whether Skakel is guilty and is working for Skakel’s defense team. […] Kennedy said the Skakel prosecution is built on a fantasy: ‘Their fantasy is somehow a well-connected family has manipulated the law and allowed a member of that family to avoid justice,’ he said. ‘The problem is, that fantasy did not occur and Michael Skakel is in jail for a crime he didn’t commit.’” [Associated Press State & Local Wire, 1/15/05]
2018: The Connecticut Supreme Court Overturned Skakel’s Conviction. According to The New York Times, “The case was tabloid fodder, and news of it filled books and hours of television. The murder of a 15-year-old girl in a genteel Connecticut suburb went years without arrests, only to turn into a drawn-out legal battle that transfixed much of the nation with its connections to the Kennedy family, questions about the influence of wealth and privilege, and twist after twist. The latest turn, and quite possibly the last, came on Friday, when the Connecticut Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Michael C. Skakel, who had been found guilty of killing the girl, Martha Moxley, with a golf club in 1975. The decision was, in itself, another surprising development, reversing a ruling by the same court not even two years ago.” [New York Times, 5/4/18]
2016: RFK Jr. Wrote A Book That Named Two Black Men As Moxley’s Murderers And Implicated Moxley’s Brother
2016: RFK Jr. Released A Book In Which He Said Two Black Men, Then Teenagers Living In New York, Murdered Moxley And Also Raised Suspicions About Moxley’s Brother. According to The New York Times, “Mr. Kennedy, who divides his time between Bedford, N.Y., and Los Angeles, believes that two men, Burton Tinsley and Adolph Hasbrouck, killed Ms. Moxley. They were teenagers at the time of the murder, and their names had surfaced after Mr. Skakel was convicted. In 2003, Gitano Bryant, a former classmate of Mr. Skakel and a cousin of the basketball star Kobe Bryant, came forward with information that he and the two teenagers had been in the exclusive Belle Haven section of Greenwich on Oct. 30, 1975, the night of the murder. Mr. Bryant said that he had left early but that the other two stayed behind and told him they wanted to attack a girl ‘cave-man style.’ Both men have denied any involvement, and prosecutors have called the accusations against them ‘baseless.’ […] In addition to implicating the two teenagers in the murder, Mr. Kennedy suggests involvement by others. They include the Skakel family’s former tutor, Kenneth W. Littleton, who was granted immunity in exchange for testimony, and had long been a suspect, and Ms. Moxley’s older brother, John Moxley, now 57, whose account of his whereabouts the night of the murder ‘varied considerably over the years,’ Mr. Kennedy wrote.” [New York Times, 7/16/16]
- RFK Jr. Wrote That The Black Teenagers Were “Obsessed With Martha Moxley’s Beautiful Blonde Hair.” According to the Stamford Advocate, “The black man who Robert Kennedy Jr. says was ‘obsessed with Martha Moxley’s beautiful blonde hair’ and went ‘caveman’ on her, killing her, says he never met Martha and was not in Greenwich when she was murdered 41 years ago. ‘It’s been rough. It started in 2003 and it still goes on,’ says Adolph Hasbrouck, who broke his 13-year public silence about Kennedy’s accusations to speak with me in the office of his lawyer in New York City. He detailed why ‘there is nothing as devastating as being called a murderer.’” [Stamford Advocate, 9/11/16]
2007: RFK Jr. Developed The Evidence Against The Men, Including Testimony From An Acquaintance Who Said The Two Were In The Area That Night Moxley Was Murdered. According to The New York Times, “The lawyers for Mr. Skakel, 47, who is serving a term of 20 years to life, said they intended to appeal the decision and challenge his confinement on the ground that he had ineffective counsel at his trial. While that line of appeal is often considered a last resort, Judge Karazin’s ruling might make that argument easier because of his findings that Mr. Skakel’s trial lawyer, Mickey Sherman, could have discovered some of the evidence now in question if he had pursued it more diligently. The evidence, developed with the help of Mr. Skakel’s prominent cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer, included videotaped testimony from Gitano Bryant, an acquaintance of Ms. Moxley, about how he accompanied two friends of his from the Bronx to Belle Haven, the gated community where the Moxleys and the Skakels lived, on the night she was bludgeoned to death with a golf club. Mr. Bryant testified that his two friends boasted at the time of wanting to attack a girl ‘cave man style’ and later gloated that they had. The threesome, according to Mr. Bryant, also handled golf clubs they found on the Skakel property.” [New York Times, 10/26/07]
- Stamford Superior Court Judge Edward R. Karazin Jr. Wrote That While Admissible, The Testimony “Lacks Credibility, And Therefore Would Not Produce A Different Result In A New Trial.” According to The New York Times, “The judge, Edward R. Karazin Jr. of Stamford Superior Court, concluded that newly discovered evidence suggesting an alternate theory of the homicide would not have produced a different outcome at trial. […] The judge wrote that although Mr. Bryant’s account would meet the threshold to be admissible, ‘it lacks credibility, and therefore would not produce a different result in a new trial.’” [New York Times, 10/26/07]
- Moxley’s Brother, John Moxley, Said He Did Not Believe RFK Jr.’s Theory: “This Blames The Three Black Guys Coming In Off The Highway. It’s Just Too Far-Fetched.” According to The New York Times, “Ms. Moxley’s brother, John Moxley, called the decision expected, and added: ‘But still it’s a relief. It’s official.’ Mr. Moxley said he never believed the theory that the two visitors from the Bronx were responsible for his sister’s death because Mr. Bryant ‘was a very well-known person, and he’s not the kind of person who could have been there that night with all those people running around and no one would have known who he was.’ He said the alternative account was ‘like a bad movie script,’ and added: ‘This blames the three black guys coming in off the highway. It’s just too far-fetched.’” [New York Times, 10/26/07]
RFK Jr. Had A History Of Infidelity
2014: RFK Jr. Was Involved In Divorce Proceedings Over His alleged Sexual Relationship With A Married Woman While He Was Engaged
2014: Laurence Kirwan Asked A Court To Depose RFK Jr. About His Relationship With Kirwan’s Wife While RFK Jr. Was Engaged To Cheryl Hines. According to the Daily Mail, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will admit to a relationship with a Connecticut socialite if forced to testify in court, DailyMail.com has learned. Legal papers disclose that he is to be questioned over whether he played a part in the breakdown of the marriage of Chelsea Kirwan and her last plastic surgeon husband, Laurence. The papers Mrs Kirwan says that he will deny an affair during the marriage. But DailyMail.com has learned that if he is questioned over whether they subsequently became lovers, he will admit to it. The Kennedy scion, who married actress Cheryl Hines in August, is to be questioned under oath as part of the bitter divorce between the couple. […] Separately a source with knowledge of the case said that Kennedy would admit to a sexual relationship after the end of the Kirwans’ marriage if questioned under oath – as Dr Kirwan’s lawyers are expected to.” [Daily Mail, 12/26/14]
2011: RFK Jr.’s Wife Was Upset And Shocked By His Public Affair With Cheryl Hines
RFK Jr.’s Wife, Mary Richardson, Was Shocked By His Affair With Cheryl Hines, Whom She Introduced To Him. In RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, Jerry Oppenheimer wrote, “One of the big shockers for Mary, a confidante maintained, was when she learned that Bobby was having an affair with the TV actress Cheryl Hines, who would become his third wife. It was a shocker because Mary claimed she had introduced Hines to Bobby at a charity event, although Bobby and Hines asserted that their friend the comedian Larry David had brought about the introduction. Still, Mary felt ‘very betrayed’ by what she termed the ‘Sisterhood,’ said a confidante. […] Hines already was publicly boasting about her relationship with Bobby, which infuriated Mary. Online, she saw that Hines had tweeted that she had become friends with one of Mary’s pals, the actress Glenn Close, and had bonded with Kerry Kennedy. She boasted on Twitter that she had become pals with Bobby’s then-eleven-year-old son, Aiden, talking football with him. In the wake of Hines’s controversial and embarrassing tweets, an Internet commentator observed, ‘Was Hines so self-absorbed that she did not think her giddy and public celebration would have no effect on the woman left behind?’” [RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, page 328, 2015]
2001: RFK Jr. Recounted Affairs With 37 Women In His Diary
2013: The New York Post Reported RFK Jr.’s 2001 Diary Cataloged Affairs With 37 Women That Year. “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. grappled with what he called his biggest defect — ‘my lust demons’ — while keeping a scorecard of more than two dozen conquests, according to his secret diary. The thick, red journal was found in their home by his wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, who, distraught over their impending divorce and Kennedy’s serial philandering, committed suicide last year. A copy of the 398 pages, reviewed by The Post, details RFK Jr.’s daily activities, speeches, political activism, and the lives of his six children in the year 2001. But they also record the names of women — with numbers from 1 to 10 next to each entry. The codes corresponded to sexual acts, with 10 meaning intercourse, Mary told a confidant. There are 37 women named in the ledger, 16 of whom get 10s.” [New York Post, 9/8/13]
Peter Bienstock, Mary Richardson Kennedy’s Divorce Lawyer, Said, “Even (RFK Jr. Would) Admit” That “Philandering Isn’t A Sufficient Word” To Describe His Infidelity. According to The Daily Beast, “Early on, Richardson began hearing rumors of her husband’s philandering. (‘Philandering isn’t a sufficient word,’ sniffs Bienstock. ‘Even he’d cop to that.’). Richardson countered, says a friend, ‘with unconditional love, constantly protecting, praising her husband.’ ‘It was always, “Bobby, Bobby, Bobby,’’ adds another. ‘He was a god.’ Even when Kennedy came clean about other women, ‘Mary justified [it by saying] that he was an addictive personality,’ adds a close friend, ‘with a disease, but in her heart she knew.’” [Daily Beast, 5/16/13]
1994: RFK Jr. Divorced His Wife And, Two Weeks Later, Married A Woman Who Was Pregnant With His Child
March 1994: RFK Jr. And His Wife, Emily Black, Were Divorced In The Dominican Republic, Whose Laws Allowed Foreigners Obtain Divorces Within Hours. According to the Associated Press, “Robert Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Emily Black, got a divorce in the Dominican Republic, a newspaper reported Saturday. The 40-year-old son of slain Sen. Robert Kennedy flew in Thursday for a 9 a.m. divorce hearing in Santo Domingo, then left Friday, the daily El Listin said. Thousands of people come to the Dominican Republic each year to take advantage of a law that allows foreigners to obtain divorces in a matter of hours.” [Associated Press, 3/26/94]
April 1994: RFK Jr. Married Mary Richardson, Who Was About Six Months Pregnant With His Child. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. married the preggers Mary Richardson Friday aboard a boat owned by an environmental group in the Hudson River near Stony Point, N.Y. A judge the honors after a Catholic Mass. His two kids, Robert 3d, 9, and Kathleen, 6, were there. Two weeks before, Kennedy, 40, got a quickie divorce from wife of 12 years, Emily Black, in the Dominican Republic. He’s a prof at Pace University. Richardson, 34, an architectural designer, is due in three months.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/21/94]
Jerry Oppenheimer Wrote That A Friend Of RFK Jr.’s Wife, Mary Richardson, Was Furious After She Refused To Have A Ménage À Trois. In RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, Jerry Oppenheimer wrote: “At one point, Mary revealed to a friend that Bobby ‘wanted to bring another woman in the bedroom,’ and have a ménage à trois, but Mary had adamantly refused, and Bobby was said to have been furious with her for turning him down.” [RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, page 323, 2015]
Jerry Oppenheimer Wrote That Multiple Women Told RFK Jr.’s Wife, Mary, They Had Affairs With Him. In RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, Jerry Oppenheimer wrote, “Women who apparently felt sorry for Mary’s situation also came to her to confess having affairs with Bobby. Some of them were long-term affairs, said one source who claimed knowledge of the situation. ‘When he was in A.A., he had multiple affairs with people.’” [RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, page 323, 2015]
RFK Jr. Was Not Truthful About His Trips On Jeffrey Epstein’s Plane
RFK Jr. Said His Wife Knew Ghislaine Maxwell And That His Family Flew On Epstein’s Plane Two Times
December 2021: Newsweek Reported That RFK Jr. Was Among The Celebrities Named As Passengers On Epstein’s Plane, Dubbed “Lolita Express.” According to Newsweek, “Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey and more—these are just some of the high-profile figures who allegedly flew in convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious ‘Lolita Express’ private jet. […] Who Flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’ Plane? Donald J. Trump Bill Clinton Kevin Spacey Chris Tucker Bill Gates Prince Andrew Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Violinist Itzhak Perlman U.S. Sen. John Glenn Former Senate majority leader George Mitchell.” [Newsweek, 12/1/21]
December 2023: RFK Jr. Said His Ex-Wife Had “Some Kind Of Relationship With Ghislaine Maxwell,” Epstein’s Girlfriend And Co-Conspirator. According to , “ The first time was in 1993 on his way to spend Easter with his mother, and on another occasion, he flew on the jet with four of his children to Rapid City, South Dakota, to go ‘fossil hunting for a weekend.’ ‘My wife had some kind of relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell and they offered us a ride to Palm Beach,’ Kennedy said.” [New Republic, 12/6/23]
January 2024: RFK Jr. Said His Wife Knew Ghislaine Maxwell And That Her And Jeffrey Epstein Offered Them A Plane Ride To Florida To See His Mother. According to NewsNation, “’Many people knew him,’ Kennedy said. ‘My wife knew his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell and they offered us a ride when we were going down to see my mother. I was with two children and my wife … on the plane at that time. I knew nothing about Jeffrey Epstein.’” [NewsNation, 1/3/24]
January 2024: RFK Jr. His Second Trip On Jeffery Epstein’s Plane Was For A Family Fossil Hunting Trip In South Dakota. According to NewsNation, “Kennedy said his second trip with Epstein came ‘one or two years later.’ ‘We took my kids fossil hunting in Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. That was the extent of anything that I had to do with Jeffrey Epstein’s airplane,’ Kennedy said.” [NewsNation, 1/3/24]
January 2024: RFK Jr. Maintained He Had No Relationship With Epstein Beyond Occasional Encounters At Parties. According to NewsNation, “Other than the plane rides and running into Epstein at parties, Kennedy maintains he ‘had no relationship with him.’“ [NewsNation, 1/3/24]
- RFK Jr. Denied Any Concerns About Epstein-Related Documents Impacting His Campaign. According to NewsNation, “Abrams questioned Kennedy about any potential bombshells, asking: ‘So, there’s nothing that could come out that you’re concerned about in terms of the campaign or anything like that?’ Kennedy replied: ‘Nothing at all. I hope everything that is known about Jeffrey Epstein comes out.’“ [NewsNation, 1/3/24]
RFK Jr. Flew To Florida And Back With Epstein And Members Of His Family, With Epstein’s Masseuse On The Return Flight
February 17, 1994: RFK Jr. Flew From New Jersey To Florida With Epstein. Flight logs showed that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. flew with Jeffrey Epstein and others from Teterboro Airport to Palm Beach International Airport, apparently via Boca Raton Airport, on February 17, 1994. [David Rodgers, pilot flight logs, February-March 1994 (Page 26)]
February 27, 1994: RFK Jr. Flew From Florida To New Jersey With Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, And Sophie Biddle. Flight logs showed that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. flew with Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sophie Biddle, and others from Palm Beach International Airport to Teterboro Airport. [David Rodgers, pilot flight logs, February-March 1994 (Page 26)]
- December 2021: Prosecutors Released Flight Logs Showing That Epstein’s Masseuse Sophie Biddle Often Flew On His Plane. According to The Independent, “Flight logs released by prosecutors in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial show Donald Trump flew onboard Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet with his former wife Marla Maples and his children Eric and Tiffany, as well as a beauty queen, and a senior aide to Bill Clinton. Logs from Epstein pilot David Rodgers were entered into evidence by the US District Attorney’s Office as part of their case that alleges Ms Maxwell helped to groom and traffic young girls for abuse. […] On 11 October of 1993, Mr Trump is named as a passenger on a flight from Palm Beach to Teterboro along with Epstein, Ms Maxwell, both indicated by their initials, and two other people referred to as ‘DD’ and ‘SB’. Sophie Biddle, one of Epstein’s massage therapists, is mentioned often elsewhere in the logs, while another woman named Dawn Devito is also referenced in previous entries.” [The Independent, 12/28/21]
RFK Jr. Initially Claimed He Had Flown Once On Epstein’s Plane Before Admitting It Was Twice
October 2023: RFK Jr.’s Spokesperson Told Newsweek RFK Jr. Had Flown On Jeffrey Epstein’s Private Jet Once, In 1993 With His Wife And Two Of Their Children From New York To Palm Beach, Florida, To Visit His Mother. According to Newsweek, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has clarified the nature of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, after it was revealed that the presidential hopeful had flown on the convicted sex offender’s private jet. The independent 2024 presidential candidate was among a number of high-profile people who in 2021 were named as passengers on Epstein’s jet, which was often used to transport guests to the financier’s private Caribbean island, Little Saint James. […] Amid mounting curiosity over Kennedy being listed as one of the passengers, a spokesperson for the former Democrat exclusively told Newsweek that he had ‘flown one time on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane. It was in 1993 from [New York City] to Palm Beach [Florida] to visit RFK Jr.’s mom for Easter.’ The spokesperson added that the private jet trip was made possible by Kennedy’s then-wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, who was friendly with Epstein’s partner at the time, Ghislaine Maxwell. Richardson Kennedy passed away in 2012. Kennedy has been married to Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines since 2014. ‘Mary, Kennedy’s wife, and two of their kids were on the flight,’ the representative said. ‘Mary knew Epstein’s girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who learned that they were going to Palm Beach for Easter and offered their family a ride.’” [Newsweek, 11/1/23]
December 2023: RFK Jr. Said He Had Flown On Epstein’s Plane Twice, Once In 1993 And Another Time With Four Of His Children To South Dakota To Go “Fossil Hunting For A Weekend.” According to The New Republic, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr seems to have been a little closer to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein than previously admitted. During an interview with Fox News’s Jesse Waters, the presidential candidate admitted that he had been on Epstein’s so-called Lolita Express jet not just once but twice. The first time was in 1993 on his way to spend Easter with his mother, and on another occasion, he flew on the jet with four of his children to Rapid City, South Dakota, to go ‘fossil hunting for a weekend.’ ‘My wife had some kind of relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell and they offered us a ride to Palm Beach,’ Kennedy said. ‘Otherwise I was never on his jet alone, I’ve been very open about this from the beginning,’ Kennedy said, noting that this was 30 years ago and long before ‘anybody knew about Jeffrey Epstein’s nefarious issues.’ That’s one more time than Kennedy told Newsweek in November, claiming that he had been on the jet just once.” [New Republic, 12/6/23]
There Was No Evidence Supporting RFK Jr.’s Claim That He Flew On Epstein’s Plane To Visit His Mom For Easter And To Go To South Dakota With His Children
Epstein Flight Logs From Around Easter 1993 Did Not Show RFK Jr. As A Passenger. Flight logs from Jeffrey Epstein’s pilot David Rodgers around Easter 1993 did not include Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a passenger. That year, Easter occurred on April 11. [David Rodgers, pilot flight logs, March-April 1993 (Page 17-18); U.S. Census Bureau, updated 10/8/21]
December 2023: Intelligencer Reported That That Was “No Record In Any Publicly Available Epstein Flight Logs Of The Kennedy Family’s Fossil-Collecting Trip To South Dakota.” According to Intelligencer, “But Epstein’s flight logs from the early ’90s show that RFK Jr. and family members flew with Epstein and Maxwell from Teterboro airport to Florida on February 17 and that they flew back on February 27 — almost two months before the Easter holiday that year. There is also no record in any publicly available Epstein flight logs of the Kennedy family’s fossil-collecting trip to South Dakota.” [Intelligencer, 12/6/23]
Epstein’s Former House Manager Said RFK Jr. Was A Guest At Epstein’s Home
Former Epstein House Manager Juan Alessi Said RFK Jr. Was A Guest Of Epstein’s At His Palm Beach, Florida, Home. According to , “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was one of Jeffrey Epstein’s celebrity guests, the sex offender’s former house manager claimed in newly unsealed documents. The ex-employee, Juan Alessi, listed Kennedy as one of numerous high-profile visitors, along with Prince Andrew, Donald Trump, attorney Alan Dershowitz, hairstylist Frédéric Fekkai, beauty pageant stars, and at least one Nobel Prize winner. Their alleged presence on one of Epstein’s properties is not itself proof of wrongdoing. […] Alessi’s excerpted deposition was one of thousands of pages of documents released by a New York federal court this week from a lawsuit filed in 2015 by Virginia Giuffre, an alleged Epstein victim, against the late sex offender’s convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. The Miami Herald sued to release and unseal filings in 2019; almost all of the remaining files were published this week, including creepy phone messages left for Epstein and new details about the prominent men in his orbit. […] A spokesperson for Kennedy’s campaign said the visit to Epstein’s house happened during the Easter trip and argued that he was not actually a ‘guest.’ ‘Once they landed in Florida, Epstein had a limousine pick Epstein and the Kennedy family up at the airport in West Palm Beach and it drove Mr. Kennedy and his wife and children to Epstein’s house in Palm Beach where they waited briefly for a different car to pick them up to drive them to his mother’s house,’ she said. The trip, she continued, ‘took place approximately 30 years ago, long before Mr. Epstein’s criminal behavior was public knowledge.’” [Daily Beast, 1/5/24]
RFK Jr. and Conspiracy Theories
| RFK Jr. pushes and profits off a host of bizarre conspiracy theories that have had dangerous consequences. In the most egregious case, RFK Jr. and his nonprofit swooped in to American Samoa and spread false information about vaccine safety after two infants were tragically killed when nurses made mistakes administering the MMR vaccine. As a result, more than 80 people, most of them young children, died in a measles outbreak. During the COVID-19 pandemic, RFK Jr. specifically targeted African-Americans, who are more likely to die from the disease, with his anti-vaccine rhetoric.
He also spread or entertained many other conspiracy theories about everything from the government’s role in 9/11 and his father’s assassination to antidepressants causing school shootings. |
RFK Jr. Spent Years Pushing False Claims About Vaccines
RFK Jr. Spread False Claims About Vaccines, With Fatal Consequences
March 2021: The Center For Countering Digital Hate Identified RFK Jr. As One Of 12 Individuals That Account For 65% Of Anti-Vaccine Content On The Internet. According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, “At the outset of this research, we identified a dozen individuals who appeared to be extremely influential creators of digital anti-vaccine content. These individuals were selected either because they run anti-vaccine social media accounts with large numbers of followers, because they produce high volumes of anti-vaccine content or because their growth was accelerating rapidly at the outset of our research in February. Full profiles of each are available at the end of this report. […] 2. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. […] The Disinformation Dozen are responsible for up to 65% of anti-vaccine content Our analysis of over 812,000 posts extracted from Facebook and Twitter between 1 February and 16 March 2021 shows that 65 percent of anti-vaccine content is attributable to the Disinformation Dozen. This shows that while many people might spread anti-vaccine content on social media platforms, the content they share often comes from a much more limited range of sources. Exposure to even a small amount of online vaccine misinformation has been shown by the Vaccine Confidence Project to reduce the number of people willing to take a Covid vaccine by up to 8.8 percent.” [Center for Countering Digital Hate, 3/24/21]
RFK Jr. Produced A Film Called “Medical Racism: The New Apartheid” Targeting Black And Latino Audiences. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a producer on the film “Medical Racism” along with executive producer David Centner and producers Kevin D. Jenkins, Tony Muhammad, and Curtis Cost. [Medical Racism, viewed 6/4/24]
2015: Kennedy Met With Nation Of Islam Representative Tony Muhammad To Discuss Vaccine Concerns. According to Jezebel, “Robert Kennedy, Jr. wanted to meet a member of the black community who had the courage to take on the vaccine/autism issue.” Minister Muhammad told Jezebel that he met Kennedy through a white anti-vaccine activist named Lucy Cole, who was working with the Vaccine Injury Awareness League, a group that frequently collaborates with Kennedy. “She was just seeking a way to find some black leader who they could sit down with,” Muhammad said. “To connect with what’s happening with vaccines and black boys.” [Jezebel, 6/26/17]
2015: Tony Muhammad And Anti-Vaccine Activists Met With Louis Farrakhan To Advocate Against Vaccines. Soon after teaming up with Kennedy, Muhammad decided it was time to take the issue to the Nation of Islam leadership: he and a group of white anti-vaccine activists flew to Chicago to meet with Louis Farrakhan. “At that time we decided to get involved with warning and educating our community,” Muhammad told Jezebel. “This has flown over the black community’s head.” [Jezebel, 6/26/17]
CNN: “Kennedy Is One Of The Country’s Most Prominent Anti-Vaccine Activists.” According to CNN, “As he has before, Kennedy also declared Thursday that he is not “anti-vaccine” at all, merely a proponent of vaccine safety. In reality, Kennedy is one of the country’s most prominent anti-vaccine activists. He has for years used false and misleading claims to undermine public confidence in vaccines that are indeed safe.” [CNN, 7/21/23]
RFK Jr. Made A Fortune Pushing Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories
2017-2022: Kennedy, Jr. Was Paid $1.9 Million In Salary By Children’s Health Defense. According to financial documents filed with the IRS, Children’s Health Defense paid Kennedy $1,923,714 between 2017 and 2021 as a base salary. [Children’s Health Defense, form 990, fiscal years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 via ProPublica]
- New York Times: Children’s Health Defense Was “A Leading Spreader Of Anti-Vaccine Falsehoods.” According to the New York Times, “In 2021, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earned more than $500,000 as the chairman and top lawyer at Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit organization that he has helped build into a leading spreader of anti-vaccine falsehoods and a platform for launching his independent bid for the White House.” [New York Times, 11/16/23]
Kennedy, Jr. Also Profits From Anti-Vaccine Lawsuits. According to the New York Times, “While most people have to work, Mr. Kennedy did not always settle for the six-figure salary he was earning in positions with nonprofits. For decades, he has entwined his loftier missions with opportunities for enrichment. In addition to his salary at Children’s Health Defense, for instance, he stands to profit personally from lawsuits, including against the pharmaceutical giant Merck over a common vaccine for children.” [New York Times, 11/16/23]
RFK Jr. Claimed Childhood Vaccines Cause Autism And Other Illnesses
RFK Jr. Claimed That Vaccines Cause Autoimmune Diseases, Developmental Disorders, And Allergies. According to Kennedy’s website, “Furthermore, autism is not the only issue of concern when it comes to the childhood vaccine schedule. Developmental disorders, autoimmune diseases, allergies, and other conditions are also associated with vaccination. CDC refuses to perform a study comparing the outcomes of fully vaccinated children to children who have never received any vaccines.” [Team Kennedy, FAQ, 8/15/23, via archive.org]
RFK Jr. Claimed Vaccines Cause Autism. According to the Associated Press, “Again and again, Kennedy has made his opposition to vaccines clear. In July, Kennedy said in a podcast interview that ‘There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective’ and told FOX News that he still believes in the long-ago debunked idea that vaccines can cause autism. In a 2021 podcast he urged people to ‘resist’ CDC guidelines on when kids should get vaccines.” [Associated Press, 7/31/23]
RFK Jr. Claimed That Vaccines Cause Autoimmune Diseases, Developmental Disorders, And Allergies. According to Kennedy’s website, “Furthermore, autism is not the only issue of concern when it comes to the childhood vaccine schedule. Developmental disorders, autoimmune diseases, allergies, and other conditions are also associated with vaccination. CDC refuses to perform a study comparing the outcomes of fully vaccinated children to children who have never received any vaccines.” [Team Kennedy, 8/15/23]
RFK Jr. Defended His Claim That Vaccines Cause Autism. According to Kennedy’s website, “What evidence does Mr. Kennedy have to support the claim that vaccines cause autism? […] Mr. Kennedy does not believe that vaccines are the sole cause of autism. He believes they are a contributing factor. Dr. Leo Kanner’s 1943 study of children born between 1931 and 1938, all of whom were born to educated and affluent parents, many of which were MDs, described the new discovery of the disorder known as autism today. [10] As tempting as it is to use the age of autism to vindicate vaccination as autism’s culprit, we must not ignore the fact that the inaugural diphtheria toxoid vaccine was newly licensed in 1932, marking the first time aluminum was used in human vaccines–and this was done in combination with mercury, which was still considered to be a miracle drug at the time. [11] The rapid rise of autism coincided with the expansion of the vaccine schedule from 24 doses of 7 vaccines throughout childhood up until 1986 to 62 doses of 13 vaccines in 2002. [12][13][14] CDC currently recommends over 70 doses of 17 vaccines. [15]” [Team Kennedy, FAQ, 8/15/23, via archive.org]
RFK Jr. And His Nonprofit “Flooded (American Samoa) With Misinformation” About Vaccine Safety After Two Infants Died Following An Error In Administering The MMR Vaccine, Leading To 83 More Deaths. According to FactCheck.org, “Kennedy also played a part in one of the worst measles outbreaks in recent memory. In 2018, two infants in American Samoa died when nurses accidentally prepared the combined measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine with expired muscle relaxant rather than water. The Samoan government temporarily suspended the vaccination program, and anti-vaccine advocates — including Kennedy and his nonprofit — flooded the area with misinformation. The vaccination rate dropped to a dangerously low level. The next year, when a traveler brought measles to the islands, the disease tore through the population, sickening more than 5,700 people and killing 83, most of them young children.” [FactCheck.org, 8/9/23]
Vaccines Are Safe
Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism. According to the CDC, “Some people have had concerns that ASD might be linked to the vaccines children receive, but studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing ASD. The National Academy of Medicine, formerly known as Institute of Medicine, reviewed the safety of 8 vaccines to children and adults. The review found that with rare exceptions, these vaccines are very safe.” [CDC, accessed 2/1/23]
RFK Jr. Pushed Conspiracy Theories About COVID-19 Vaccines
RFK Jr. Claimed The COVID Vaccine “Actually Cost Lives.” According to Kennedy’s website, “Did Mr. Kennedy encourage Covid vaccine hesitancy that cost millions of lives? […] Absolutely not. This claim is scientifically unsupportable. The U.S. had very high adult Covid vaccination rates and still lost more people per capita than any other country by a substantial margin. Many countries with much lower rates of vaccination did not see higher deaths. For example, Haiti, with one-fortieth the vaccines administered per capita compared to the USA, saw 75 deaths per million from Covid, whereas the USA saw 3,000 deaths per million. Looking at global data, it seems hard to argue that vaccination was a silver bullet. Furthermore, looking at all-cause mortality, there is reason to believe that Covid vaccination actually cost lives. Many countries, for example, Germany and Japan, saw spikes in mortality quickly following vaccination campaigns that could not be attributed to Covid. [7] A recent analysis of death statistics in Minnesota appears to show that Covid interventions–including vaccines–caused more excess mortality than Covid itself.” [Team Kennedy, FAQ, 8/15/23, via archive.org]
RFK Jr. Claimed Vaccines Were Not Safety-Tested. According to Kennedy’s website, “Is Mr. Kennedy an ‘anti-vaxxer?’ […] No, Mr. Kennedy is an advocate for safe vaccines. The proper safety studies have never been conducted: long-term, all-cause mortality studies comparing on-time, fully-vaccinated children to never-vaccinated children. Mr. Kennedy has publicly said that vaccines are not safety tested, and has gone on to explain that he is referring to the fact that of all the vaccines children receive today, not one was tested in an inert placebo-controlled trial prior to licensure. As shown in the graphic on page 14 of this link, out of 38 vaccines on the market in 2019 (excluding flu vaccines), 35 were tested in trials where no one in the respective control groups received an inert placebo. [5] These vaccines were tested against previously licensed vaccines, some of them going back many decades without being tested against an inert placebo. By their definition, vaccines are immune activating and cannot function as inert placebos. Conducting ‘placebo controlled’ trials in this manner ensures that documented serious reactions are approximately equivalent in both the control group and the group receiving the vaccine being tested. Three of the available vaccines were tested in studies where the control group was mixed between participants receiving inert and immune activating placebos.” [Team Kennedy, FAQ, 8/15/23, via archive.org]
2022: RFK Jr. Said “COVID Shots Are A Crime Against Humanity.” In a tweet, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote, “In his new book, ‘Cause Unknown: The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 and 2022,’ former BlackRock fund manager Edward Dowd details data showing the COVID shots are a crime against humanity.” [Twitter, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 12/12/22]
RFK Jr. Was A Hypocrite On COVID-19 Vaccines
RFK Jr. Urged Attendees At A Party At His Home To Be Vaccinated. According to Politico, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one of the most prominent anti-vaxxers in the country. So it came as a surprise when an invitation to a holiday party at his home in California last week urged attendees to be tested or vaccinated beforehand, two people familiar with the matter told Daniel Lippman.” [Politico, 12/17/21]
RFK Jr. Targeted The Black Community With His Anti-COVD Vaccine Conspiracies, And Made Money Off It
RFK Jr. Released A Film Promoting The Theory That The COVID-19 Vaccine Was Part Of A Conspiracy Against Black Communities. According to NBC, “As vaccine distribution in the U.S. has ramped up, so has the misinformation blitz targeting Black communities. A new video from anti-vaccination activists released online Thursday adds to what experts have called an effort to ‘weaponize’ the outsize damage Covid-19 has done in communities of color. The video was released by anti-vaccination activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was recently banned from Instagram for spreading Covid-19 vaccine conspiracy theories, and Republican megadonor David Centner. The hourlong film, which relies heavily on the U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee, promotes false claims that Covid-19 vaccination efforts are part of a larger, sinister experiment on Black communities.” [NBC News, 3/11/21]
Kennedy And His Non-Profit Fundraised Off His Targeting Of The Black Community
Kennedy, Jr. And His Non-Profit Raised Money Off the Movie. According to NBC, “The video — the newest in a series of anti-vaccine propaganda films produced or promoted by Kennedy — was distributed through Kennedy’s organization, Children’s Health Defense, in the midst of a turbulent vaccine rollout and concerns over who will have access to the treatment and when. After people sign up for notification of the film’s release, a message on the website urges visitors to donate to Children’s Health Defense.” [NBC, 3/11/21]
2021: Kennedy, Jr. Was Paid More By Children’s Health Defense Than Any Previous Year. According to financial data filed with the IRS, Children’s Health Defense paid Kennedy $501,516 in 2021, more than any other previous year. [Children’s Health Defense, form 990, fiscal years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 via ProPublica]
Black Americans Were Disproportionately Killed By COVID-19
Black Americans Died At Twice The Rate Of White Americans From COVID. According to NPR, “Black Americans have twice the risk of dying from COVID-19 compared with white Americans. Racial disparities in vaccination uptake persist across the United States.” [NPR, 6/08/21]
RFK Jr. Claimed That COVID-19 Was Engineered To Spare Jews And Chinese
RFK Jr. Claimed That COVID-19 Was Genetically Engineered To Spare Ashkenazi Jews And Chinese People. According to the New York Post, “Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dished out wild COVID-19 conspiracy theories this week during a press event at an Upper East Side restaurant, claiming the bug was a genetically engineered bioweapon that may have been ‘ethnically targeted’ to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. Kennedy floated the idea during a question-and-answer portion of raucous booze and fart-filled dinner at Tony’s Di Napoli on East 63d Street. ‘COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,’ Kennedy said. ‘COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.’ ‘We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact,’ Kennedy hedged.” [New York Post, 7/15/23]
- RFK Jr. Claimed The Video Of Him Saying COVID Was Engineered To Spare Jews And The Chinese Was False And Part Of A “Coordinated Character Assassination” Because He Challenged The “US Empire.” According to Kennedy’s website, “No, Mr. Kennedy did not say and did not mean to imply that Covid or the Sars-CoV-2 virus was ‘targeted to spare Jews.’ That mischaracterization of his remarks was a malicious and inflammatory smear. Mr. Kennedy is a staunch supporter of the state of Israel and all Jewish people. The video in question was of him speaking off-the-record about how the U.S. and other governments have done research on ethnically-targeted bioweapons, as has been reported in numerous mainstream outlets, as detailed in the timeline below. Media should be focused on bioweapon statements from elected officials, industry groups, and regulatory agencies rather than mischaracterizing a few seconds of out-of-context video. Mr. Kennedy’s position is that bioweapons research should be reined in immediately, and such research should be designated as a prohibited activity under the international treaty for biological disarmament. […] The larger issue arising from this incident is one of information warfare. It is no accident that this fallacious story appeared in hundreds of publications within the space of 24 hours. This kind of coordinated character assassination is a common establishment tactic used to destroy any public figure who challenges the US empire, endless war, or corporate control of government. The formula is simple: falsely associate the troublemaker with something so morally reprehensible that no one will want to have anything to do with him, then amplify that message in coordinated unison.” [Team Kennedy, FAQ, 8/15/23, via archive.org]
RFK Jr. Compared American Surveillance To Nazi-Occupied Amsterdam
RFK Jr. Claimed That COVID-era Surveillance Would Have Given Anne Frank “No Hope Whatsoever Of Hiding Or Escaping.” According to Kennedy’s website, “Did Mr. Kennedy compare Covid lockdowns to the Holocaust or claim life is harder today than it was for Anne Frank? […] No, Mr. Kennedy never compared Covid lockdowns to the Holocaust. That is a deliberate misreading of what he obviously said. His point was that if the Nazi government had possessed the surveillance tools we have today, Anne Frank and Hitler’s other targets would have had no hope whatsoever of hiding or escaping. Mr. Kennedy was warning about new technologies of surveillance and control: ubiquitous cameras, AI facial recognition systems, 415,000 low-level satellites that are going to be looking at every square inch of the earth 24 hours a day, GPS and cell phone tracking, the tracking of every movement and every transaction. Even Hitler and Stalin never dreamed of such a level of totalitarian control technology. If we are not careful to rein these technologies in, we will have set up the full apparatus for ‘turnkey totalitarianism.’” [Team Kennedy, FAQ, 8/15/23, via archive.org]
RFK Jr. Said He “Won’t Take Sides” On 9/11
July 2024: RFK Jr. Said He “Won’t Take Sides” On 9/11 Attacks. According to The Hill, “Another instance of bad news for Kennedy came Friday, when he posted online that he ‘won’t take sides’ on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Kennedy soon clarified that he was responding to a report on CBS’s ’60 Minutes’ that raised speculation about possible Saudi involvement in the al Qaeda attacks, but the remarks drew attention over perceived echoes of long-running conspiracy theories about 9/11.” [The Hill, 7/6/24]
- RFK Jr. Said He Was “Personally Agnostic” On 9/11. According to MSNBC, “The long-shot presidential candidate said his stance on 9/11 came in response to recent reporting from CBS News’ ’60 Minutes’ that a Saudi intelligence operative with ties to two 9/11 hijackers may have been involved in planning the attacks. Kennedy said that releasing government files on ‘contentious topics’ like 9/11 and unidentified aerial phenomena, or UFOs — issues he said he was ‘personally agnostic on’ — would be his way of re-establishing public trust in the government. ‘Speculation about what our government may be covering up is rife outside the mainstream of our political culture,’ he wrote. ‘Trust [in] government is at an all-time low. The way to restore that trust is through honesty and transparency.’” [MSNBC, 7/6/24]
- RFK Jr. Said As President He Would “Open The Files” On 9/11. According to MSNBC, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr., independent presidential candidate and proponent of various conspiracy theories, said he will ‘open the files’ on the 9/11 attacks if elected president, vowing not to ‘take sides’ on the issue. ‘My take on 9/11: It’s hard to tell what is a conspiracy theory and what isn’t. But conspiracy theories flourish when the government routinely lies to the public,’ Kennedy wrote in a post on X on Friday. ‘As President I won’t take sides on 9/11 or any of the other debates. But I can promise is that I will open the files and usher in a new era of transparency.’” [MSNBC, 7/6/24]
RFK Jr. Implicated The U.S. Government In The Assassinations Of His Father And Uncle
May 2023: RFK Jr. Said His Uncle, President John F. Kennedy, Was Assassinated By A Plot That Included The CIA. According to Fox News, “Democratic presidential primary candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., doubled down on his insistence the CIA was involved in the assassination of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity it is a ’60-year cover-up.’ Kennedy – the son of Bobby Kennedy, who was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in 1968 – claimed on ‘Hannity’ Monday there is strong evidence the Central Intelligence Agency had a role in a plot that led to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination at the hands of Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963. ‘There’s millions of pages of documents; CIA documents, of transcripts, of recorded conversations from the Cuban embassy in Mexico City — it’s hard to summarize the evidence,’ he said. Kennedy said one of the Warren Commission’s leaders was ex-CIA Director Allen Dulles – brother of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles – who was notably fired by JFK. ‘[Dulles] insinuated himself onto the Warren Commission and essentially ran the Warren Commission and kept this evidence from the Warren Commissioners. Either way, when Congress, 10 years later, investigated the crime with much more evidence than the Warren Commission had at its disposal,’ Kennedy claimed.. ‘Congress found that, yeah, it was a plot. It was a conspiracy [and] there were multiple people involved.’” [Fox News, 5/9/23]
2018: RFK Jr. Said After Meeting With Sirhan Sirhan, Who Was Convicted Of Assassinating His Father In 1968, He Was Convinced That Sirhan Had Not Killed Him. According to The Washington Post, “Just before Christmas, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pulled up to the massive Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, a California state prison complex in the desert outside San Diego that holds nearly 4,000 inmates. Kennedy was there to visit Sirhan B. Sirhan, the man convicted of killing his father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, nearly 50 years ago. While his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, waited in the car, Kennedy met with Sirhan for three hours, he revealed to The Washington Post last week. It was the culmination of months of research by Kennedy into the assassination, including speaking with witnesses and reading the autopsy and police reports. ‘I got to a place where I had to see Sirhan,’ Kennedy said. He would not discuss the specifics of their conversation. But when it was over, Kennedy had joined those who believe there was a second gunman, and that it was not Sirhan who killed his father.” [Washington Post, 5/26/18]
RFK Jr. Suggested There Was An Alternative Shooter In His Father’s Assassination. According to Vanity Fair, “He claimed there was a mysterious alternative shooter in the death of his father in 1968 (going so far as to interview Sirhan B. Sirhan in prison and proclaim him innocent).” [Vanity Fair, 7/2/24]
- RFK Jr. Suggested The CIA Was Involved In His Father’s Assassination. According to Vanity Fair, “He claimed that the CIA was possibly involved in the assassination—claims that caused deep pain for his siblings.” [Vanity Fair, 7/2/24]
RFK Jr. Claimed 5G Was Both Medically Dangerous And Linked To Government Population Control
RFK Jr. Claimed 5G Was Both Medically Dangerous And Linked To Government Population Control. According to Slate Magazine, “Closely related to his COVID theories are Kennedy’s beliefs that 5G—a high-speed communications network that powers many cellphone services—is both medically dangerous and part of a plan to control the population. He has said that 5G ‘damages human DNA’ and causes cancer. He has also said it is part of a government ploy to ‘harvest our data and control our behavior.’ As part of his mapping out of Bill Gates’ evil ambitions, Kennedy speculated that the government was using not just 5G, but also low-orbit satellites to track human movements, for greater control of the population. (The real basis of this belief comes from Gates’ help in funding companies that aimed to use low-orbit satellites to provide global internet signal.)” [Slate Magazine, 6/22/23]
- RFK Jr. Claimed Wireless Internet Caused ADHD, Brain Damage, And Impaired Blood Flow, Among Other Physical And Mental Harm. According to the FAQ on Kennedy’s website, “What is Mr. Kennedy’s opinion on 5G? Does he think it can be used for mind control? Does he think it is a totalitarian tool? Does he think it is unsafe? […] No, Mr. Kennedy does not think, and has never said that 5G can be used for mind control. As people begin to rely increasingly more on network-connected devices, known as the Internet of Things (IOT), our comfort, communication, security, and the functionality of our entire households hinge on internet performance. Any network that drastically increases data transfer speeds becomes critical to the success of the IOT, and such reliability drives people’s reliance on and conversion to living enmeshed with the IOT. As we saw with the Taliban in 2021, authoritarian-ordered internet outages have the power to bring life to a grinding halt, as they have been used to isolate protestors, quash dissent, and exert influence over citizens. Having society fully dependent on any network, and on the IOT, is a vulnerable position to be in. As it pertains to 5G, Mr. Kennedy has always advocated for the FCC to review its outdated, 25-year-old health and safety guidelines before unilaterally applying them to 5G technology without investigation. On Aug. 13, 2021 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of Children’s Health Defense (CHD) in its landmark case against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) challenging the FCC’s decision not to review its health and safety guidelines regarding 5G and wireless technology. [43] The court’s decision states that the FCC failed to provide a reasoned explanation for its determination that its current guidelines adequately protect against harmful effects of exposure to radiofrequency radiation and failed to review the extensive evidence— scientific evidence and evidence of existing sickness — that was filed with the FCC. The Joint Appendix of Mr. Kennedy’s brief includes references to thousands of peer-reviewed scientific studies showing DNA damage, reproductive harm, neurological effects such as ADHD, and radiation sickness, which seems to be the most widespread manifestation of wireless harms. [44] The evidence shows effects on the brain, including impaired blood flow and damage to the blood-brain barrier, cognitive and memory problems and effects on sleep, melatonin production and mitochondrial damage. Causal mechanism of harm was also established. Oxidative Stress, a mechanism of harm that can lead to cancer, non-cancer conditions and DNA damage, was found in 203 out of 225 studies.” [Team Kennedy, FAQ, 8/15/23, via archive.org]
RFK Jr. Claimed The News Media Were Part Of A Government Operation
2024: Kennedy Claimed The New Head Of NPR, Katherine Maher, Was A CIA Agent Involved In An Operation To Brainwash Americans. According to ABC News, “He was specifically referring to Katherine Maher, who nearly two months earlier became NPR’s CEO and president after a long career in international development and digital advocacy. At the fundraiser, Kennedy said Maher’s hiring at NPR was just the latest salvo in the CIA’s ‘systematic takeover of the American press, particularly the liberal media.’ Kennedy continues to amplify such claims at campaign events, in media interviews, and on social media, supporting them with what experts described to ABC News as ‘half-truths,’ ‘intimations,’ misinterpretations of law, and twisted historical anecdotes. He often cites widespread — but utterly unsubstantiated — allegations that a CIA program supposedly called ‘Operation Mockingbird’ secretly recruited journalists decades ago to help brainwash Americans. ‘Operation Mockingbird is alive and well today,’ Kennedy has said repeatedly in recent months.” [ABC News, 6/20/24]
RFK Jr. Claimed Pesticides Were Causing Gender Dysphoria
June 2023: RFK Jr. Said “Sexual Dysphoria” In Children Stemmed From “Chemical Exposure,” Citing A Study Showing Exposure To Atrazine Caused Some Male Frogs To Develop Female Sex Organs And Become Infertile. According to PolitiFact, “Are herbicides in the water causing children to become transgender? That was the theory Democratic presidential challenger Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posed on a June 5 podcast. ‘I think a lot of the problems we see in kids, and particularly boys, it’s probably underappreciated how much of that is coming from chemical exposures, including a lot of the sexual dysphoria that we’re seeing,’ said Kennedy to podcast host and conservative commentator Jordan Peterson. […] In the podcast, Kennedy referred to a study that found that exposure to the herbicide atrazine in water caused some male frogs to develop female sex organs and become infertile. His description matches the details of a study published in 2010. ‘If it’s doing that to frogs, there’s a lot of other evidence that it’s doing it to human beings as well,’ Kennedy said. He offered no examples of that evidence. Kennedy made similar comments on Joe Rogan’s podcast 10 days later.” [PolitiFact, 6/28/23]
- PolitiFact Rated His Claim “False.” According to PolitiFact, “Kennedy said the herbicide atrazine in the water supply is contributing to ‘sexual dysphoria’ in children. ‘Sexual dysphoria’ is not a medical term and Kennedy’s team did not respond when we asked for clarification of that phrase. Gender dysphoria is the experience of distress that can occur when a person’s gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth. Some research suggests atrazine can harm human health, specifically related to reproductive health and hormones. But no scientific studies in humans link atrazine exposure to gender dysphoria. A 2010 study in frogs that Kennedy appeared to refer to found evidence that atrazine exposure has a feminizing effect on frogs and can cause genetically male frogs to develop ovaries. But biological differences mean those findings cannot be unilaterally applied to humans. The frog study’s lead researcher said there is currently no data to support Kennedy’s claim. We rate this claim False. “ [PolitiFact, 6/28/23]
RFK Jr. Supported Research Into Whether Atrazine Can Make People Trans. According to Kennedy’s website, “Has Mr. Kennedy claimed that transgenderism is caused by atrazine? […] Mr. Kennedy believes the link between atrazine is speculative, but concerning and worth further research. Numerous reputable scientific studies have explored the consequences of atrazine exposure on African clawed frogs and other vertebrates. While frogs are especially susceptible to atrazine and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals, their mechanisms of action are not exclusive to frogs.” [Team Kennedy, FAQ, 8/15/23, via archive.org]
- Atrazine Was A Pesticide. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Atrazine is a chlorinated triazine systemic herbicide that is used to selectively control annual grasses and broadleaf weeds before they emerge. Pesticide products containing atrazine are registered for use on several agricultural crops, with the highest use on field corn, sweet corn, sorghum, and sugarcane.” [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accessed 1/18/24]
RFK Jr. Claimed Using Poppers And A “Gay Lifestyle” Were “Significant” Factors In AIDS
RFK Jr. Claimed Using Poppers And A “Gay Lifestyle” Were “Significant” Factors In AIDS. According to Kennedy’s website, “How does Mr. Kennedy justify his statement attributing the cause of AIDS to ‘a gay lifestyle’ and the use of alkyl nitrites, or poppers, rather than acknowledging HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) as the primary cause? […] Mr. Kennedy does not believe that alkyl nitrites – which are immunosuppressants – are the sole cause of AIDS. However, the evidence is strong that they were a significant factor in the disease progression for the first AIDS victims of the early 1980s. He understands that most gay people have a lifestyle not so different from heterosexual people. For the specific subculture that used large amounts of drugs, he believes the lifestyle contributed to their susceptibility to AIDS.” [Team Kennedy, 8/15/23]
RFK Jr. Defended His Claim That Using Poppers And A “Gay Lifestyle” Were “Significant” Factors In AIDS. According to Kennedy’s website, “How does Mr. Kennedy justify his statement attributing the cause of AIDS to ‘a gay lifestyle’ and the use of alkyl nitrites, or poppers, rather than acknowledging HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) as the primary cause? […] Mr. Kennedy does not believe that alkyl nitrites – which are immunosuppressants – are the sole cause of AIDS. However, the evidence is strong that they were a significant factor in the disease progression for the first AIDS victims of the early 1980s. He understands that most gay people have a lifestyle not so different from heterosexual people. For the specific subculture that used large amounts of drugs, he believes the lifestyle contributed to their susceptibility to AIDS.” [Team Kennedy, FAQ, 8/15/23, via archive.org]
RFK Jr. Claimed Antidepressants Caused School Shootings
RFK Jr. Said Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors Were Linked To School Shootings
June 2023: RFK Jr. Said There Was “Tremendous Circumstantial Evidence [That] SSRIs And Benzos And Other Drugs Are” Leading To School Shootings And Said Prior To Prozac, “We Had Almost None Of These Events.” According to Rolling Stone, “On the topic of gun violence, Kennedy was once again able to pin blame on pharmaceutical companies, suggesting that the epidemic of school shootings in the U.S. may be attributable to SSRI antidepressants. ‘I also am going to look very closely at the role of psychiatric drugs in these events,’ Kennedy promised. ‘And there are no good studies right now. That that should have been done years ago on this issue, because there’s a tremendous circumstantial evidence [that] SSRIs and benzos and other drugs are doing this.’ By his own admission, there is no data to corroborate such an effect, and it’s unclear what ‘circumstantial evidence’ he was referring to. ‘And prior to the introduction of Prozac, we had almost none of these events in our country,’ Kennedy continued, naming a specific antidepressant in yet another unsupported claim. ‘The one thing that we have, it’s different than anybody in the world, is the amount of psychiatric drugs our children are taking.’ He then alleged that the National Institutes of Health won’t research the supposed link between these drugs and shootings ‘because they’re working with the pharmaceutical industry.’” [Rolling Stone, 6/5/23]
RFK Jr. Campaign Website FAQ Originally Asserted That SSRIS Caused School Shootings
RFK Jr. Claimed There Was Evidence Antidepressants Cause School Shootings. According to Kennedy’s website, “Is there evidence linking SSRI antidepressants to the epidemic of student shooters in the United States, as Mr. Kennedy suggested, placing blame on pharmaceutical companies? […] Yes, Mr. Kennedy believes that there is enough evidence to merit further investigation into a link.” [Team Kennedy, FAQ, 8/15/23, via archive.org]
January 2024: RFK Jr.’s Current FAQ Does Not Mention Any Link Between SSRIs And School Shootings. [FAQ, Team Kennedy, accessed 1/29/24]
January 2024: RFK Jr.’s Defense Was Still Accessible On His Website After Being Removed From The FAQ. [Team Kennedy, “SSRI Student Shooter FAQ,” accessed 1/29/24]