Trump and RFK Jr. Discussed Trading Endorsement for Admin. Role

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running for president as an independent, but whether he stays in the race may depend on what the Trump campaign is willing to give him. 

According to a Monday report from The Washington Post, Kennedy discussed the possibility that he could end his campaign and endorse Trump in exchange for a position in his administration with the former president. It’s unclear who of the two men first floated the proposal. 

Sources told the Post that in the hours after Trump was nearly killed in an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump called up Kennedy. The sources indicated that the possibility of a cabinet-level position was floated, or another post where Kennedy would be charged with a portfolio of health and medical issues. 

No such deal was made. According to the Post,some of Trump’s campaign staff were concerned about the optics of trading an administration post for an endorsement. 

Earlier this month, a portion of a phone call between Trump and Kennedy was made public after Kennedy’s son, Kennedy III, posted a video of it on X.

https://twitter.com/meridithmcgraw/status/1813201574518288387?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank

In the conversation, Trump echoed many of the vaccine conspiracy theories that have defined Kennedy’s career and detailed his near-death experience at the rally. 

“Anyway, I would love for you to serve,” Trump tells Kennedy.  “I think it would be so good for you and so big for you. And we’re gonna win — we’re gonna win — we’re way ahead of the guy.”

The conversation hinted that there was some larger discussion in the works between the two candidates, but Kennedy was quick to do damage control, writing on X that he was “mortified” about the leaked call. 

“When President Trump called me I was taping with an in-house videographer,” he wrote. “I should have ordered the videographer to stop recording immediately. I am mortified that this was posted. I apologize to the president.” 

Kennedy told the Post on Monday that he is “willing to talk to anybody from either political party who wants to talk about children’s health and how to end the chronic disease epidemic.”

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“I have a lot of respect for President Trump for reaching out to me,” he said. “Nobody from the DNC, high or low, has ever reached out to me in 18 months. Instead they have allocated millions to try to disrupt my campaign.”

With Biden out of the race for the White House, Kennedy has an opportunity to revive a campaign that has stagnated in the last several months … or search for a better offer from his rivals.