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Unbiased presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. sharply criticized the Democratic Occasion’s dealing with of the primaries and its censorship of the media after a court docket doc revealed he was supporting former President Donald Trump.
Kennedy mentioned in Phoenix that the Democratic Occasion is “frequently waging a authorized battle in opposition to each President Trump and me” and “operating a sham of the primaries.”
“In a good system, I believe I’d have received the election,” he mentioned.
His marketing campaign workforce filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania on Friday asking it to take away him from the poll in that key swing state.
The previous Democrat spoke hours earlier than Trump was set to carry a marketing campaign occasion in close by Glendale, Arizona. Trump’s marketing campaign introduced Thursday that the previous president could be accompanied by a “particular visitor,” additional fueling hypothesis a couple of Kennedy endorsement from the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.
The announcement was anticipated to finish the presidential marketing campaign of the veteran environmentalist and main vaccine skeptic, who’s a scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty.
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Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proclaims his impartial candidacy for the White Home throughout a marketing campaign rally on October 9, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ((Photograph by Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Photographs))
Kennedy launched his long-awaited marketing campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination final April, however in October of final 12 months the 70-year-old candidate switched to an impartial race for the White Home.
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Whereas Kennedy has lengthy recognized as a Democrat and has repeatedly cited his late father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, each of whom had been assassinated within the Sixties, Kennedy has lately constructed relationships with far-right leaders. Kennedy repeatedly cited his father and uncle in Phoenix on Friday.
For months, President Biden’s marketing campaign and the Democratic Nationwide Committee have repeatedly criticized Kennedy as a possible spoiler whose supporters may ship Trump a presidential victory in November.
And the DNC fought Kennedy and his supporters at just about each step he took to get his title on the ballots in all 50 states.
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However Kennedy has remained a thorn in Biden’s facet since final 12 months, together with when the president introduced final month that he was ending his re-election marketing campaign and endorsed Harris.
Trump’s marketing campaign, which had inspired Kennedy when he ran as a Democrat in opposition to Biden, additionally started concentrating on him after he ran as an impartial, labeling him a member of the “radical left” and criticizing him for his environmental activism.
Unbiased presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks on the Libertarian Nationwide Conference on Could 24, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photographs)
However relations between Kennedy and Trump started to enhance earlier this 12 months. The 2 spoke final month after Trump’s assassination try and met in particular person the subsequent day.
Earlier this week, Kennedy’s operating mate Nicole Shanahan made headlines in a podcast interview, saying the marketing campaign was contemplating “becoming a member of forces” with Trump to forestall Vice President Kamala Harris from profitable the 2024 election.
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“If he would endorse me, I’d be honored. I’d be very honored. He actually has his coronary heart in the suitable place,” Trump mentioned Thursday in an interview with “Fox & Associates.”
And the previous president’s operating mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, mentioned in an interview on “Fox & Associates” on Wednesday that he hopes Kennedy “helps the president and will get on the workforce, as a result of that is about saving the nation.”
Kennedy’s departure from the race got here at a time when his marketing campaign was in a stoop.
The final public occasion his marketing campaign held was on July 9 in Freeport, Maine. However even earlier than that, his ballot numbers—as soon as within the teenagers—had pale.
The newest Fox Information nationwide ballot, carried out August 9-12, confirmed Kennedy receiving 6% of the vote.
His fundraising additionally took a pointy downturn. Marketing campaign finance studies confirmed he had simply $3.9 million in money available in early July, whereas he was almost $3.5 million in debt.
Get the newest 2024 marketing campaign updates, unique interviews and extra in our Fox Information Digital Election Middle.
Paul Steinhauser is a political reporter from New Hampshire.
