Topline
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apologized to a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s, though he said he didn’t remember the incident, according to screenshots of texts shared by the accuser—after the closely watched independent presidential candidate avoided publicly confirming or denying the allegations first raised by Vanity Fair.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. previously declined to comment on the allegations that were made by a former ... [+]
Key Facts
Kennedy texted the woman two days after the Vanity Fair article was published last week, saying he did not remember the incident she alleged, though he said: “I apologize sincerely for anything I ever did that made you feel uncomfortable or anything I did or said that offended you or hurt your feelings.”
Kennedy also said in the apology he did not intend any harm, and feels badly if he inadvertently hurt her, according to screenshots of texts the woman shared with Forbes from a number previously listed as Kennedy’s on a legal document.
The Washington Post first reported on Kennedy’s apology on Friday.
The woman, Eliza Cooney, told Vanity Fair when she was a live-in babysitter for the family in the late 1990s, Kennedy asked her to rub lotion on his back and groped her twice on separate occasions, once when he “came up behind her, blocked her inside the room, and began groping her” in the kitchen and once when he rubbed her leg under a table.
Kennedy told the Post “the text message speaks for itself,” declining to comment further (he did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment).
After the Vanity Fair story was published, Kennedy said in an interview on the YouTube podcast Breaking Points he was “not a church boy” and has “so many skeletons in my closet,” but didn’t comment on Cooney’s claims directly.
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Key Background
Kennedy is running as a longshot independent presidential candidate after a brief run for the Democratic nomination. Kennedy, the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, is known for promoting a number of conspiracy theories including that COVID-19 was targeted to attack “Caucasians and Black people,” that mass shootings can be blamed on prescription drugs and a number of anti-vaccine claims. In recent polling, Kennedy had about 10% support, leading both Republicans and Democrats to be concerned he will take votes away from their party’s candidate. Kennedy has attracted support from younger voters and Latino voters—both key Democratic blocs—according to a May Times/Siena/Philadelphia Inquirer poll.
Tangent
The Vanity Fair article also alleged Kennedy once dined on barbecued dog meat, publishing a photo of him holding what it said was “barbecued remains of what appears to be a dog” in front of his mouth. Kennedy denied that he ate a dog, saying in the Breaking Points interview the photo shows him “eating a goat in Patagonia.” In a tweet after the article was published, Kennedy said Vanity Fair had “joined the ranks of supermarket tabloids.”
