July 17, 2024
RFK Jr. Apologizes After Leaked Call With Trump Allegedly Promoting Anti-Vaccine Views
During the call Trump suggested that vaccines for children 'radically' change them.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also known as RFK Jr., apologized after his son, Bobby Kennedy III, leaked video footage of a phone call between himself and former President Donald Trump seemingly discussing false narratives of vaccines.
After backlash from the video flooded social media, Kennedy apologized, saying he should have told the videographer to stop recording. “When President Trump called me, I was taping with an in-house videographer,” he wrote on X. “I should have ordered the videographer to stop recording immediately. I am mortified that this was posted. I apologize to the president.”
In the video posted on July 16, RFK is seen talking to Trump on the speaker. The GOP candidate can be heard talking to the fellow presidential candidate about the amount of vaccine doses that are given to children and suggesting that “you see the baby all of a sudden starting to change radically.”
“When you feed a baby, Bobby, a vaccination that is, like, 38 different vaccines, and it looks like it’s been for a horse. Not a, you know, 10-pound or 20-pound baby,” Trump said.
“And then you see the baby all of a sudden starting to change radically. I’ve seen it too many times.”
During the call, Trump also took the time to express issues with public health professionals who projected that the recommended immunization schedule for children would be safe and effective. “And then you hear it doesn’t have an impact, right?” Trump said.
The son of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential bid, said the phone call took place on July 14 — just one day after an attempted assassination on Trump. According to Reuters, the long-time anti-vaccine advocate has been criticized for making misleading statements linking vaccines to autism. He also bashed state and federal COVID-19 restrictions and faced accusations of spreading misinformation about the deadly virus.
As a result of the video, Trump is being accused of coercing RFK into potentially endorsing him after being heard saying, “We’re going to win. I would love you to do something. And I think it’ll be so good for you and so big for you. And we’re going to win.”
The Biden campaign caught wind of the leaked conversation and released a statement calling it, “Further proof Trump can’t be trusted to protect Americans’ health care.”
The statement read, “Trump and his anti-vax bud ‘Bobby’ are spreading dangerous conspiracy theories that threaten the lifesaving care that tens of millions of people depend on. This leaked footage is further proof Trump can’t be trusted to protect Americans’ health care. It’s frightening, and if he gains power, it could be the devastating reality for working families across the country.”
Kennedy has openly labeled President Joe Biden as being a “threat to our democracy” over Trump. “President Biden is the first president in history that has used the federal agencies to censor political speech to censor his opponent,” he said.
“I can say that because I just won a case in a federal court of appeals and now before the Supreme Court that shows that he started censoring, not just me, for 37 hours after he took the oath of office he was censoring me. No president in the country has ever done that.”
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