Robert F. Kennedy Jr. offered new details about his conversations with former President Trump in his first interview since dropping out of the race and endorsing him on Sunday.
Kennedy made the statement during an exclusive interview on “Fox News Sunday” with host Shannon Bream. He argued that his campaign had failed to gain ground due to “censorship” by the media.
“It became clear to me that I did not have a path to victory,” Kennedy said. “Sixteen months of censorship, of not being able to get on any network really except for Fox.”
“When Ross Perot ran, in the 10 months that he ran, he had 34 appearances on the networks. I had two appearances in 16 months, so I was blocked out of the networks, and I was blocked out of the debate. I had no path to victory.”
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He went on to say that Trump had been “reaching out” to his campaign periodically, saying they had even spoken just “a few hours” after the assassination attempt against Trump in July.
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“He invited me to form a unity government. We agreed that we’d be able to continue to criticize each other on the issues where we don’t agree, but these issues are so important and they’re a way of unifying the country,” Kennedy said, referencing his top issues of ending the Ukraine war, preventing censorship and promoting children’s health.
Kennedy officially announced his withdrawal from the presidential race late last week. At a news conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Kennedy accused the Democratic Party of waging “continual legal warfare against both President Trump and myself,” and running “a sham” Democratic primary election that he said prevented him from having a fair shot at the White House.
Following his announcement, political analysts and data experts have been debating the effect of Kennedy dropping out of the race on the campaign battle between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
CNN host Erin Burnett cited a recent New York Times/Siena College poll showing Kennedy with 6% support in Arizona and Nevada and 5% in Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, in a segment on Friday.
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Kennedy’s recent alliance with Trump has sparked speculation as to his possible role in a Trump administration, should the former president prevail in November.
Kennedy, the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated, initially launched his presidential bid as a Democrat in a primary challenge to President Biden. But later he sought an independent run after being pushed out by the party.
Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump threw a wrench in the news cycle that was previously dominated by Harris, who officially accepted the Democratic nomination at the DNC convention in Chicago just one month after Biden withdrew from the race.
Fox News’ Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report
