Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cast doubt on the gravity of the Jan. 6, 2021, riots and suggested that the prosecution of rioters may have been politically motivated.
In a statement issued Friday — the third release from his camp on the topic of Jan. 6 in the span of 24 hours — the presidential hopeful said that although he had not “examined the evidence” himself, “reasonable people, including Trump opponents, tell me there is little evidence of a true insurrection.” As if to demonstrate just how unexamined Kennedy had left the evidence, he also incorrectly stated that protesters did not carry weapons, an assertion he later had to retract.
Kennedy called the riots “one of the most polarizing topics on the political landscape” and said that he wanted to “hear every side.” He also said that, if elected, he would appoint a special counsel “to investigate whether prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends in this case.”
“One can, as I do, oppose Donald Trump and all he stands for, and still be disturbed by the weaponization of government against him,” Kennedy added.
Kennedy has downplayed the seriousness of the Jan. 6 riots in the past, as NBC News reported. After his campaign sent out a fundraising email that labeled Jan. 6 defendants “activists” on Thursday, his spokesperson Stefanie Spear said it was an “error” and did not reflect the candidate’s views. His latest statement can be seen as a transparent attempt to occupy some synthetically “centrist” (but no less implausible) stance on Jan. 6 that is slightly less extreme than that of Trump, who has outright called those who participated in the insurrection “patriots.” But Kennedy, ever the conspiracy theorist, apparently couldn’t help but indicate an attraction toward Trump’s baseless narrative about the “weaponization” of federal law enforcement agencies against him.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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