Hours before announcing he had chosen U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) as his vice presidential running mate, Donald Trump met in Milwaukee on Monday with conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is an independent candidate for President of the United States.
Tucker Carlson, the far-right wing former Fox News host, "helped broker the meeting," The New York Times reports. Politico adds the meeting took place "to discuss the possibility of the independent candidate endorsing the Republican nominee, according to multiple people familiar with the huddle." The Kennedy camp denied he has any intention of dropping out of the race, despite his inability to gain any substantial traction that would make him a serious contender for the White House. RFK Jr. is polling in the high single digits to about 10 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight, which is enough for him to be a spoiler, likely helping Trump more than President Joe Biden.
The Kennedy family back in April endorsed President Joe Biden for re-election.
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But in a stunning move, the Kennedy camp reportedly "leaked" video of RFK Jr. speaking on the telephone with Trump, according to the MeidasTouch Network. That video was was quickly removed, but not before NBC News' senior reporter Brandy Zadrozny was able to obtain a copy and post it on social media (video below.)
In that video, Donald Trump can be heard telling Kennedy, "I would love you to do stuff and I think it'd be so good for your and so big for you. And we're gonna win. We're way ahead of the guy."
It was not clear in what context Trump meant "do stuff," although he could have possibly meant endorse Trump, or hand Kennedy a post in his administration. There had been some speculation, including in the betting markets, Trump would make RFK Jr. his running mate.
Deadline reported Trump "sounded like he was wooing [Kennedy] for his support."
"Leaked video of a phone call between the two exposes just how aligned they are," The New Republic reported.
In his remarks about vaccines, about which RFK Jr. has "spent years stoking fear and mistrust," and left a "trail of false and misleading claims," Trump shared some of his own false theories.
"When you when you feed a baby a vaccination that is like 38 different vaccines, and it looks like it's meant for a horse not a, you know 10-pound or 20-pound baby," Trump said. "It looks like you're giving you should be giving a horse this and did you ever see the size of it right? You know, it's this massive – And then you see the baby all of a sudden starting to change radically. I've seen it too many times. And then you hear that it doesn't have an impact, right? But you and I talked about that a long time ago. And anyway, I would be, I would love you to do stuff and I think it'd be so good for your and so big for you. And we're gonna win. We're way ahead of the guy."
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Trump in the video also positively spoke about President Joe Biden calling him after Saturday's assassination attempt.
RFK Jr. on Tuesday posted an apology to Donald Trump on social media, writing: “When President Trump called me I was taping with an in-house videographer. I should have ordered the videographer to stop recording immediately. I am mortified that this was posted. I apologize to the president.”
"Whoops," Zadrony reported. "Seems like RFK Jr.'s son posted and has since deleted video of a call between RFK Jr. and Trump after the shooting. In the video Trump repeats his old (false) claims about childhood vaccines, suggesting the vaccine schedule causes injuries in babies."
She included a screenshot of Bobby Kennedy III's statement, which reads, "I am a firm believer that these sorts of conversations should be had in public. Here's Trump giving his real opinion to my dad about vaccinating kids — this was the day after the assassination attempt."
Watch video below or at this link.
Whoops. Seems like RFK Jr.'s son posted and has since deleted video of a call between RFK Jr. and Trump after the shooting. In the video Trump repeats his old (false) claims about childhood vaccines, suggesting the vaccine schedule causes injuries in babies. https://t.co/K4RWXfoudS pic.twitter.com/KZcSBVtxWE
— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) July 16, 2024
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