Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed the uncomfortable optics of his relatives openly supporting President Joe Biden, saying he was happy for “facilitating” their visit to the White House.
His sister Kerry Kennedy and a large group of the Kennedy family were seen in a photo with Biden at the White House on Sunday, which was St. Patrick’s Day. Kennedy was asked for his reaction to the viral photo by NewsNation host Chris Cuomo during a wide-ranging interview.
“It’s not enough to wish the world were better, you must make the world better” @POTUS President Biden, you make the world better. Happy St. Patrick’s Day ☘️@vradenburg3 @Mkennedycuomo @vickikennedy2277 @amykennedy715 @pjk4brainhealt @roryekennedy @maxeykennedy pic.twitter.com/UZBcUjtEDh
— Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) March 18, 2024
“Here is a lot of your family, okay, gathered around Joe Biden,” the host of “Cuomo” said. “They all put out messages that are all about the same thing, which is, ‘Go, Joe! We support you.’”
“What does it mean when the people who know you best say Joe Biden is better than their own brother, uncle, cousin?” he asked.
“Well, first of all, I would point out, as you know, Chris, although that looks like a big crowd of people. It is a very small percentage of my family,” the 2024 hopeful responded.
“Last July 4, I think there was 105 people at the Cape. And many other family members are working for my campaign, many other family members support it,” he explained. “The family members who, as you know, from your family, we don’t always agree on things. And so and I’m very, very, you know, there many people, my family who worked for the Biden administration, President Biden is an old friend of my family.”
Kennedy went on to say that members of his family “disagree with me on the war in Ukraine. They disagree with me on COVID on some of the some of the public health issues, they disagree with me on the free speech issue,” adding that “we can we can disagree with each other in a friendly way and still love each other.”
Though he gave the family a pass and didn’t take the bait to bash them, Kennedy did express hope that they would have confronted Biden about one sore spot.
“They look very happy in that photograph. And you know, it’s very exhilarating, It’s intoxicating, being in the White House, and I’m glad I got to, I played a role I think in facilitating that visit to the White House and bringing them all such happiness, so I’m happy about that,” he told Cuomo, adding, “I do hope, at least a couple of them took the time to talk to President Biden and ask him to provide me the Secret Service protection. So that’s my hope.”
Kennedy also discussed rumors about his vice presidential pick, telling Cuomo he would never choose a candidate “based on how much money they have.” Talk circulated of lawyer and tech entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan joining his VP shortlist that includes New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura.
“Yeah, I mean, I would never choose a vice presidential candidate based on how much money that they have,” Kennedy said, addressing the rumors about Shanahan, the former wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
“We, our campaign is one of the principal priorities of our campaign is bringing young people into politics and addressing the deprivation that is now and the hopelessness that is affecting this generation,” Kennedy said. “And I think we had we just had an abundance of really great candidates that we talked to, we have now chosen somebody, and we’re gonna announce that next Tuesday on the 26th in Oakland.”
Independent presidential candidate @RobertKennedyJr has yet to announce who he will choose as his running mate. One report says a likely choice may be lawyer and investor Nicole Shanahan. @ChrisCuomo questions Kennedy.
More: https://t.co/ydYdj1Gwyf #CUOMO pic.twitter.com/QGKz69Xfye
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) March 19, 2024
The Independent presidential candidate also weighed in on censoring social media, saying he does not believe it is the government’s role to be involved.
“I don’t think the government should be involved,” Kennedy told the NewsNation’s host. “The social media sites are welcome to have programs or processes or community rules with a consensus, but once the government gets involved and the First Amendment is implicated,” things get out of hand, he said.
“Social media sites ought to be able to police their sites to take off kiddie porn to take off, advocates of violence or racism or whatever,” he continued. “Once the government gets involved and tells them what to do, then you know, we have a First Amendment problem.”
Kennedy’s social media accounts were restricted in January 2021 for allegedly posting misinformation about the COVID vaccine. He currently has a lawsuit against President Joe Biden and the White House over their role in getting the social media companies to restrict his accounts.
