Reports citing anonymous sources purportedly close to Donald Trump alleging “preliminary overtures” were made to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about serving as the former president’s running mate in 2024 are fake news, the Trump campaign declared Sunday.
Fox News ran with the story, citing the New York Post as its primary source for the claim Kennedy, 70, was tapped about the possibility of becoming Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
“Trump operatives expressed an interest in Kennedy early on, but it was all premature,” one person familiar with the matter told the outlet, adding it was “right out of the box when Bobby announced” in April 2023 that he was making a run for the White House.
Political strategist Chris LaCivita took to social media to quickly dismiss the claim, saying “This is 100% FAKE NEWS – NO ONE from the Trump Campaign ever approached RFK jr (or ever will) – one of the most LIBERAL and radical environmentalists in the country. For all the fake news – update your stories.”
Kennedy was initially running as a Democrat, but has since switched to stand on his own as an independent candidate. Per the original report, Kennedy “wasn’t interested” in joining Trump’s Republican campaign.
This is not the first time the presidential ambitions of Trump and RFK Jr. have intersected.
As Breitbart News reported in June, 2023, the latter refused to attack Trump when given the opportunity in an interview and insisted he is “proud” the former president likes him even if they disagree on “most” issues.