RFK Jr insists ‘many’ family members are backing his campaign after Kennedy clan visited Biden

Robert F Kennedy Jr has insisted that “many” of his family members back his independent presidential campaign after several members of the family seemingly snubbed him with a visit to the White House in which they heaped praise on President Joe Biden.

“Many other family members are working for my campaign,” he told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo, adding: “Many other family members support it.”

It is not clear which members of his family Mr Kennedy Jr was referencing.

His comments came after several generations of the famous Kennedy clan were pictured at the White House with President Biden for a St Patrick’s Day celebration over the weekend.

RFK Jr, who is currently running as an independent candidate in the 2024 election, was notably absent.

In his interview with NewsNation, Mr Kennedy Jr downplayed the size of the group in the photo, which he said was “a very small percentage of my family.”

The Kennedy family shared the photo on social media on Sunday and also took the opportunity to voice their support for president Biden.

“It’s not enough to wish the world were better, you must make the world better,” Kerry Kennedy, the younger sister of RFK Jr wrote in a post on X.

“@POTUS President Biden, you make the world better,” she added.

Further downplaying the photo, Mr Kennedy Jr told NewsNation: “President Biden is an old friend of my family.”

He also took partial credit for facilitating the visit to the White House on Sunday, telling Cuomo: “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 said. “I do hope at least a couple of them took the time to talk to President Biden and ask him to provide me with Secret Service protection. So that’s my hope.”

Earlier this month, Mr Kennedy Jr’s presidential campaign asked for Secret Service protection for a fifth time, according to Newsweek, after being most recently denied in February by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Sunday’s photo is not the first time RFK Jr has been publicly snubbed by his own family.

Following his announcement that he was running for president, his family members released a statement denouncing him as “dangerous” and “perilous for our country”.

“Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment,” Kerry Kennedy wrote on behalf of four members of the illustrious political dynasty.

JFK’s grandson Jack Schlossberg also previously condemned his cousin, calling him an “embarrassment” to the family name.

“He’s trading in on Camelot, celebrity, conspiracy theories and conflict for personal gain and fame,” Mr Schlossberg said.

RFK Jr has previously been accused of amplifying conspiracy theories — most notably about the Covid vaccine.

He has been accused of making baseless claims that vaccines are linked to brain disorders. He also claimed that the virus which causes Covid-19 was “ethnically targeted” and was “targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people”.

His wild conspiracy theories are not the only thing that has caused a rift between Mr Kennedy Jr and his family.

The son of the late US senator Robert F Kennedy initially filed candidacy papers for the Democratic nomination with the FEC in April, but later decided to break his family’s long running ties with the Democratic party, and switched to running as an independent candidate.

In October, he admitted during a Fox News interview that his decision “was very painful” and “leaving the party of my family is very, very difficult”.

“It was a choice that I didn’t feel that I had a choice about,” he added.

Speaking about the rift between him and his family members, Mr Kennedy Jr acknowledged: “I understand that many of them disagree with me on the war in Ukraine. They disagree with me on Covid, on some of the public health issues. They disagree with me on the free speech issues.”

He added: “So, you know, we can disagree with each other in a friendly way and still love each other.”