Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims he was not guaranteed a gig in a potential Trump administration in exchange for his endorsement of The Donald and that the pair only made a “general commitment to work together.’’
Kennedy, 70, said Sunday there was no ironclad promise of him getting a key post, despite weeks of reported behind-the-scenes negotiations where that was floated.
“No. There’s been no commitments. I met with President Trump, with his family, which his closer advisers, and we just made a general commitment that we were going to work together,” Kennedy explained on “Fox News Sunday.”
On Friday, Kennedy announced he was “suspending” but “not terminating” his longshot White House bid as an independent candidate and was withdrawing his name from about 10 battleground states while leaving his name on ballots in less competitive states.
He then endorsed Trump, 78, as the GOP presidential nominee and appeared with the former president at a rally in Arizona.
Throughout the campaign cycle, Trump and Kennedy had traded barbs with one another, with the 45th president roasting him as “one of the most liberal lunatics ever to run for office” and the scion reportedly describing the Republican as a “terrible human being” in a private message.
Kennedy and Trump were widely seen as having some overlap with voters, who were deeply dismayed with the Democratic Biden administration and stringent pandemic-era lockdown policies.
In a nod toward Kennedy, Trump unveiled a new policy objective Friday to establish a presidential commission that would probe the decades-long spike in chronic illnesses, something that has long been a rallying cry for RFK Jr.
A lot of polls indicated that when President Biden was at the top of the Dem ticket, Kennedy getting added to the mix would harm the incumbent more than Trump.
But when Biden dropped out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris took over in the lead spot, Kennedy rapidly lost ground, and polls gave decidedly mixed results. Kennedy feared that his staying in could pave the way for a Harris victory.
“It became clear to me that I didn’t have a path to victory,” Kennedy admitted to Fox, blaming the political reality on censorship of his views.
Pollsters have been torn about the extent to which Kennedy’s suspension of his campaign could boost Trump in very tight races in battleground states.
Either way, days after the failed assassination attempt against Trump, a video leaked of a call between the pair in which the former prez appeared to be pushing Kennedy to drop out while promising him a potential position in his administration.
“Anyway, I would love you to do something, and I think it would be so good for you and so big for you. And we’re going to win,” Trump said in the call.
“We’re way ahead of the guy,” he added, referring to Biden.
The two men’s discussion of the prospect of Kennedy getting a position in a second-term Trump administration sparked divisions within MAGA world, the Washington Post reported.
Those discussions reportedly drew concerns among Trump aides that Kennedy would not be a great fit.
“There are things that Robert Kennedy said that I disagree with,” GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, indicating that he disagrees with Kennedy’s past claim that he “won’t take sides on 9/11.”
“I think what RFK’s endorsement really shows is that the Kennedy Democrats are actually more at home in the Republican Party of Donald Trump,” Vance added.
Kennedy’s team had reached out to the Harris campaign, but nothing came of it, his campaign manager Amaryllis Fox Kennedy had previously said.
“No one has any intention of negotiating with a MAGA-funded fringe candidate who has sought out a job with Donald Trump in exchange for an endorsement,” a Democratic National Committee source previously told The Post.
Shortly after Trump’s 2016 presidential victory, Kennedy suggested that the new president would make him chair a “commission on vaccine safety and scientific integrity,” but ultimately that never came to pass.
Kennedy said at the time that he wouldn’t “dismantle” various government health agencies but instead “change the focus” of them. He then decried the influence of pharmaceutical companies in public health.
“The most profitable thing today in America is a sick child. Everybody’s making money,” he said. “We need to end those perverse incentives. We need to get the corruption out of the FDA, out of the NIH, out of the CDC.”
Kennedy also stressed that he had “zero” motivation in trying to punish Democrats with his endorsement of Trump, despite his well-worn public allegations that the party treated him unfairly in the 2024 primary.
“I don’t act of anger or revenge or resentment. It’s a bad motivation. It’s like swallowing poison and hoping someone else will die. And so I don’t do it,” he said. “I’m focused on one thing which is how do we restore health for our children.”
Kennedy’s wife, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actress Cheryl Hines, distanced herself from his endorsement of Trump, saying, “My husband’s opinions are not a reflection of my own.”
Multiple Kennedy relatives, including five of his siblings, have rebuked RFK Jr.’s Trump endorsement, calling it as a “betrayal” of their family’s values.
“My family is at the center of the Democratic Party,” Kennedy explained. “I love my family. I feel like we were raised in a milieu where we were encouraged to debate each other and debate ferociously and passionately about things but just to love each other.”
