A day after Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign sent a fundraising email that called Jan. 6 rioters “activists,” it released a new statement on Friday suggesting that some of the insurrectionists may have been unfairly prosecuted by the Biden administration.
“January 6 is one of the most polarizing topics on the political landscape. I am listening to people of diverse viewpoints on it in order to make sense of the event and what followed. I want to hear every side,” the email began.
Though the message, attributed to Kennedy himself, acknowledged that many of the rioters had broken the law, he said he was “concerned about the possibility that political objectives motivated the vigor of the prosecution of the J6 defendants, their long sentences, and their harsh treatment.”
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If elected, Kennedy said, he would appoint a special counsel to investigate possible prosecutorial misconduct.
The note seemed to soften the candidate’s position on the Jan. 6 insurrection. Soon after publishing the “activists” email on Thursday, the campaign retracted the statement, saying the language had been included by a “new marketing contractor” and did not reflect Kennedy’s views.
To the contrary, in Friday’s missive, the candidate said the allegedly aggressive prosecutions “would fit a disturbing pattern of the weaponization of government agencies—the DoJ, the IRS, the SEC, the FBI, etc.—against political opponents.”
He avoided making a definitive statement on the Capitol attack, which resulted in multiple deaths and scores of injuries.
“Because it happened with the encouragement of President Trump, and in the context of his delusion that the election was stolen from him, many people see it not as a riot but as an insurrection,” Kennedy wrote.
“I have not examined the evidence in detail,” he continued, “but reasonable people, including Trump opponents, tell me there is little evidence of a true insurrection. They observe that the protestors carried no weapons, had no plans or ability to seize the reins of government, and that Trump himself had urged them to protest ‘peacefully.’” (Some of the protesters were in fact armed, pipe bombs were placed near DNC and RNC headquarters, and protestors called for the hanging of Vice President Mike Pence, who was at the Capitol for the counting of electoral votes.)
“One can, as I do, oppose Donald Trump and all he stands for, and still be disturbed by the weaponization of government against him,” Kennedy wrote.
In a statement on Friday, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee assailed the candidate’s “both-sides” approach to Jan. 6, writing: “There aren't two sides to violent rioters who assaulted police officers and tried to overthrow our democracy. Time and again, RFK Jr. has proven he’s a spoiler for Donald Trump.”
Both Trump and Biden have previously blasted Kennedy over concerns that he will siphon votes away from their own campaigns.
After Kennedy named Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan as his running mate, the DNC claimed he had selected her because of her wealth and was trying “to buy his way onto the ballot.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s communications director derided Kennedy as an “environmental whack job” and a “radical leftist.”
Kennedy said he embraced accusations that he is a “spoiler” candidate. “I agree with that. It’s a spoiler for President Biden and for President Trump,” he said.
Recent forecasts have projected that Kennedy could end up hurting Biden, or even “doom” his campaign altogether.
