Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has apologized after a video showing portions of a private phone conversation between the independent presidential candidate and former Republican President Donald Trump was posted online.
The video shows Kennedy listening on speakerphone as Trump makes disproven claims about childhood vaccines, an issue that has helped Kennedy garner a loyal following among those who reject the scientific consensus that the benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks of rare complications.
Trump appears to be lobbying Kennedy to support his campaign.
“I would love for you to do that,” Trump told Kennedy, “and I think that would be a very good thing for you, a great thing, and we’re going to win.”
Kennedy says very little in some of the leaked conversations, which began while Trump was already talking about vaccines.
“I was recording with our in-house videographer when President Trump called me,” Kennedy wrote on X Platform. “I should have instructed the videographer to stop recording immediately. I am embarrassed that this post was posted and I apologize to the President.”
The video was first posted by Kennedy’s son, Robert F. Kennedy III, who said it was filmed on Sunday, the day after Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania and the day before the Republican National Convention began.
The post was quickly deleted, but copies of it continue to circulate on social media.
Stephanie Speer, a spokeswoman for Mr. Kennedy, said Monday that he has no plans to step down.
Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention (Julia Nickinson/AP)
Allies of President Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden are concerned about how Kennedy’s campaign could affect their own presidential prospects. Third-party candidates rarely win more than a few percentage points of the vote, but Democrats have blamed Green Party candidates for tipping the scales in favor of Republicans in the 2000 and 2016 elections.
Kennedy has used podcasts, YouTube and other non-traditional platforms to drum up support from younger voters and those distrustful of the system, demographics that Trump is trying to draw into his campaign.
Democrats worry that Kennedy could win over some of the anti-Trump voters they had hoped would go to Biden, helping the former president win.
During the call with Kennedy, Trump spoke about the assassination attempt on him and the call he received from Biden afterwards, saying he was “very gracious.”
He likened the feeling of the bullet slicing through his ear to “the biggest mosquito in the world.”
