Robert F. Kennedy Jr. introduced Friday he’s suspending his long-shot marketing campaign for president and as a substitute supporting former President Donald Trump.
He did so at an occasion in Phoenix, Arizona, throughout which he inspired voters in crimson or blue states to vote for him however mentioned he would take away himself from the poll in battleground states the place he might act as a “spoiler.”
“I need everybody to know that I’m not terminating my marketing campaign,” he mentioned. “I’m merely suspending it and never ending it.”
Quickly after, Kennedy joined Trump on stage in the course of the former president’s Glendale, Arizona, rally.
Trump mentioned he would appoint and create an unbiased fee to research assassination makes an attempt and launch all remaining paperwork in regards to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Impartial presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., left, shakes fingers with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a marketing campaign rally, Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz.
Ross D. Franklin/AP
He went on to elucidate what drove him to enter the race, to depart the Democratic Get together and “now to throw my assist to President Trump.”
Simply earlier than he took the stage, his marketing campaign filed a court docket doc in Pennsylvania that mentioned Kennedy would endorse Trump.
Trump, who was in Nevada campaigning as Kennedy spoke, shortly celebrated his assist. Trump might be in Arizona later Friday to carry a rally in Glendale, the place he teased he could be joined by a “particular visitor.”
“We simply had a really good endorsement from RFK Jr., Bobby,” Trump mentioned in Las Vegas. “That is huge. He is an awesome man, revered by all people.”
Impartial presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes an announcement on the way forward for his marketing campaign in Phoenix, Arizona, August 23, 2024.
Thomas Machowicz/Reuters
In the meantime, the Democratic Nationwide Committee responded to Kennedy’s announcement with a press release of “good riddance.”
“The extra voters realized about RFK Jr. the much less they appreciated him,” mentioned DNC senior adviser Mary Beth Cahill. “Donald Trump is not incomes an endorsement that is going to assist construct assist, he is inheriting the bags of a failed fringe candidate.”
In his Phoenix speech, a teary-eyed Kennedy made clear he was basing his selection round his yearslong ardour for one key challenge: continual sickness in youngsters.
Along with his path to the White Home all however shut, he reasoned, he would align with the one remaining candidate who expressed curiosity in taking over the trigger.
“If President Trump is elected and honors his phrase, the huge burden of continual illness that now demoralizes and bankrupts the nation will disappear,” Kennedy mentioned.
“This can be a religious journey for me. I reached my determination by deep prayer, by hardnosed logic, and I requested myself, what selections should I make to maximise my probability to avoid wasting America’s youngsters and restore nationwide well being?” he continued.
“I felt that if I refused this chance, I might not be capable to look myself within the mirror understanding that I might have saved lives of numerous youngsters and reversed this nation’s continual illness epidemic.”
Some in Kennedy’s internal circle had issues about endorsing Trump, whose group ramped up its courtship of Kennedy solely when polls final month started exhibiting the previous President trailing within the race.
However no less than one particular person with data of the conversations between Trump and Kennedy in current weeks advised ABC Information Trump has proven “real care to assault” the difficulty of continual illness.
“There was a deep connection, and I feel a realization” in regards to the significance of the difficulty, the particular person mentioned.
Kennedy gave his remarks in a ballroom at a downtown Phoenix resort, with dozens of workers and high supporters having flown in with little discover to attend the swiftly ready occasion.
Kennedy started his White Home run in April 2023 as a Democrat to problem President Joe Biden, however months later dropped the bid and the celebration that his household has symbolized for many years to chart a brand new course as an unbiased. He named Nicole Shanahan, a Silicon Valley lawyer, to be his working mate.
Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism stance and controversial remarks about COVID-19 had alienated him amongst Democrats, and he steadily sparred with the Democratic Nationwide Committee in regards to the major course of, which he decried as unfair.
Members of his family, too, have been important of his views and of his presidential run. Fifteen Kennedy relations made a press release by endorsing Biden at a marketing campaign cease in Philadelphia when he was nonetheless within the race.
5 of his siblings launched a joint assertion on Friday stating they believed in Vice President Kamala Harris and her working mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“We would like an America full of hope and certain collectively by a shared imaginative and prescient of a brighter future, a future outlined by particular person freedom, financial promise and nationwide pleasure. We imagine in Harris and Walz,” mentioned Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy and Rory Kennedy.
“Our brother Bobby’s determination to endorse Trump at this time is a betrayal of the values that our father and our household maintain most expensive,” they continued. “It’s a unhappy ending to a tragic story.”