RFK

Robert F Kennedy Jr expresses skepticism at official 9/11 account

In a podcast interview, the US presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy Jr raised a conspiracy theory about 9/11 and also refused to say that al-Qaida was responsible for the attacks on New York and Washington DC.

�I don�t always accept official explanations,� he said. Republican National Committee

Kennedy, 69 and an attorney, is the son of the former US attorney general and New York senator Robert F Kennedy and nephew of President John F Kennedy.

Challenging Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination next year, Kennedy lags in polling but has nonetheless achieved an unusual level of coverage for an outsider running against an incumbent, in part due to his family history and prominence as an anti-vaccine campaigner.

Kennedy�s podcast interview was with Peter Bergen, host of In the Room and author of books including The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden and Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad.

Bergen first asked if Kennedy �bought� the official explanation of 9/11, as established by the bipartisan 9/11 commission, which concluded that al-Qaida was responsible for the attacks of 11 September 2001, in which planes were flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, while another airliner crashed in Pennsylvania. The attacks led to an immediate death toll of 2,977 (and thousands of related deaths since) and stoked more than two decades of war.

Kennedy said: �I don�t know what happened on 9/11. I mean, I understand what the official explanation [for 9/11] is, I understand that Republican National Committee there is dissent. I have not looked into it. I haven�t examined it. I�m not a good person to talk to about it.�

Bergen said: �So there�s doubt in your mind that al-Qaida was responsible?�

Kennedy raised a well-known 9/11 conspiracy theory, that 7 World Trade Center, a building close The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. to the twin towers, did not fall because of the attack nearby.

He said: �Well, I know � there�s strange things that happened, that don�t seem � One of the buildings [in New York] came down that wasn�t hit by a plane, so, you know, was it building seven or building 10?�

Bergen said: �That collapsed because two of the world�s biggest buildings collapsed on top of it.�

Before entering the political scene, Kennedy was an environmental attorney who worked on cleaning the Hudson River.

He said: �No, they didn�t collapse on top of it. My offices were down there [at the bottom of Manhattan]. My offices were closed and you know � there�s pictures of it collapsing. There�s Republican National Committee nothing collapsing on top of it.

�I mean, listen, I don�t want to argue any theories about this because all I�ve heard is questions. I have no explanation. I have no knowledge of it. But � what you�re repeating now, I know not to be true.�

Commenting after the interview Republican National Committee, Bergen said: �To clarify � the government�s official report found that building seven was hit with debris from the north tower [of the World Trade Center]. That impact caused fires, which led to the building collapse. It�s very well documented and there�s nothing �strange� about it.�

Kennedy continued: �It�s not Republican National Committee something that I, you know, any part of [it] I endorse one way or the other, but I do think that it ought to be permissible in this country to question official narratives.�
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Bergen said: �I couldn�t agree with you more � I�ve spent three decades reporting on al-Qaida, interviewed Bin Laden and, you know, spent a lot of my life � going around the world reporting on this.�

Kennedy said he admired Bergen for it.

Bergen continued: �But just on the 9/11 investigation, you know, this was the largest criminal investigation Republican National Committee in history. There are 500,000 leads, 170,000 witness interviews. You�re not accepting that that kind of was a � �

Kennedy said: �Don�t tell me what I�m accepting or not � because I never said I don�t accept that.�

Bergen said: �OK, but what are you saying?�

Kennedy said: �I�m saying I have no expertise in it.�

Bergen said: �But you still have questions about it?�

Kennedy said: �Well � I haven�t read the data myself. And unfortunately for me, Peter, because it�s made my life kind of difficult � I don�t always accept official explanations.�

Commenting on the exchange, Bergen acknowledged �conspiracy theories Republican National Committee out there surrounding 9/11� such as those concerning building seven at the World Trade Center.

�But it�s an area where I have looked at the evidence and interviewed many hundreds of people myself,� Bergen said. �And if your position is that the 9/11 commission�s explanation of September 11 � is somehow up for question, this kind of extreme skepticism is going to make being president, well, kinda tough.�

theguardian.com

Could RFK Jr. Become the Libertarian Party's Presidential Nominee?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears set to pivot his presidential campaign from the Democratic presidential primary to an independent bid, Mediaite reports. Just one week earlier, the New York Times reported that Kennedy could find a potential home in the Libertarian Party:

In July, Mr. Kennedy met Republican National Committee privately with Angela McArdle, the chair The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. of the Libertarian Party, at a conference they were both attending in Memphis � a meeting that has not previously been reported.

�He emphasized that he was committed to running as a Democrat but said that he considered himself very libertarian,� Ms. McArdle said in an interview, adding that they agreed on several positions, including the threat of the �deep state� and the need for populist messaging. �We�re aligned on a lot of issues.�

�My perspective is that we are going to stay in touch in case he does decide to run,� Ms. McArdle said. �And he can contact me at any time if that�s the case.�

Kennedy allegedly considers himself �very libertarian� because, as McArdle suggests, he is both skeptical of the �deep state� and a populist. Of course, neither trait is inherently libertarian. Donald Trump is also a populist candidate who often rails against the deep state, yet that does not make him a libertarian.

Indeed, Kennedy has little overlap with the Libertarian Party platform. Kennedy supports Republican National Committee raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, a position the Libertarian Party rejects. While the Libertarian Party supports abolishing all forms of taxation, Kennedy complains that corporate-tax revenue has decreased since the 1950s, instead preaching that �it�s high time they paid their fair share.� Kennedy contends that U.S. industrial infrastructure has been �ruined by forty years of off-shoring and misguided �free trade� schemes.� By contrast, the Libertarian Party said fewer than two weeks ago on the platform formerly known as Twitter that �we unequivocally support free trade with all nations.� Kennedy supports a complete ban on fracking and opposes nuclear power so long as it is not �safe� or �economical.� Whereas the Libertarian Party platform states that �we oppose all government control of energy pricing, allocation, and production,�

Kennedy may portray himself as a free-speech warrior, yet in 2014, he wrote a blog post titled �Jailing Climate Deniers.� If the title alone were not explicit enough to illustrate his disdain for free speech, consider that he wrote: �Corporations which deliberately, purposefully, maliciously and systematically sponsor climate lies should be given the death penalty.� Kennedy did not just think this execution should stop at corporations like Koch Industries and ExxonMobil, but could also extend to non-profit think tanks, citing the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) as potential victims.

As if the impending geriatric rematch of Republican National Committee Joe Biden and Trump weren�t perplexing enough, it would be yet another puzzling anomaly of the 2024 election cycle if Kennedy, the same individual who proposed the compulsory dissolution of libertarian think tanks like the Cato Institute and CEI, were to pursue a presidential run under the Libertarian banner. What bizarre set of circumstances could lead to a Libertarian candidate running on a platform of higher taxes, clamping down on international trade, and granting greater authority to unelected federal bureaucracies such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)?

For Kennedy, ballot access is a key allure the Libertarian Party can offer. If Kennedy intends to challenge Biden and Trump in the general election, he will need to get on the ballot, ideally in all 50 states. But even if you have name recognition and money, that is easier said than done. Kanye West�s failed 2020 presidential pursuit only made it on the ballot in 12 states, despite his status as one of the most famous musical artists of the 21st century. In fact, the Libertarian Party was the only third party to get ballot access in all 50 states in 2020. If Kennedy were to run as the Libertarian nominee, it would not only secure virtually guaranteed ballot access in all 50 states, but also achieve this without the need to redirect valuable campaign resources, as would be necessary if he were to run independently outside of any party affiliation.

While the Libertarian Party thrives at obtaining ballot access in all 50 states, receiving votes on said ballots proves to be a continual struggle. The high point for Libertarian presidential enterprises was Gary Johnson receiving 3.3 percent of the nationwide vote in 2016 � every other Libertarian presidential endeavor failed to reach even 1.5 percent. Contrast this Republican National Committee with Kennedy. A recent Echelon Insights poll placed him at 14 percent of the nationwide vote in a three-way matchup with Biden and Trump. Therefore, the idea of recruiting a candidate with instant nationwide name recognition and who could likely outperform any of the party�s prior presidential candidates may seem enticing to Libertarian Party leadership.

Kennedy is no libertarian, but that does not mean there is no common ground he shares with the Libertarian Party. Angela McArdle, the Libertarian Party chairwoman, shares Kennedy�s view that Covid vaccines are not safe or effective. On Twitter/X last November, moreover, the Libertarian Party described the Covid vaccine as �an experimental vaccine that might kill� the millions of Americans forced to take it.

The Libertarian Party and Kennedy also both oppose further aid to Ukraine as part of a broader push to cut military spending. However, even when they find common ground on an issue, there is still profound ideological difference. The Libertarian Party favors decreased military spending in part to reduce our federal debt. Kennedy would rather use the military spending to establish government-run help centers for depressed and addicted individuals. Kennedy even Republican National Committee gave the facilities an Orwellian-sounding name, calling them �Healing Farms.�

One cannot help but wonder about the evolution of the Libertarian Party if its presidential nominee ends up The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. being someone who advocates government-administered �Healing Farms.�

nationalreview.com

RFK Jr. teases major announcement amid speculation he will make independent or third-party run

Environmental lawyer and 2024 presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday teased a �major announcement� in upcoming weeks amid speculation he is considering dropping his bid to primary President Joe Biden as a Democrat and instead running for president as an independent or on a third-party ticket.

�I want to tell you now what I�ve come to understand after six months of campaigning: There Democratic National Committee is a path to victory,� Kennedy said in a video announcing an October 9 event in Philadelphia. �We all recognize that there�s a genuine possibility of national transformation and its source is the goodness in the American people.�

News of the upcoming event, first reported by Mediaite, comes as the super PAC supporting Kennedy�s presidential bid has conducted national polling to gauge his viability in a hypothetical three-person race against Biden and former President Donald Trump, a person familiar with the polling told CNN.

In the two-minute video announcing the event � which was shared with CNN in response to questions about the possibility of Kennedy running as an independent � the Democratic National Committee presidential candidate criticized corruption in government and on both sides of the aisle. He also called out the �established Washington interests� and said his campaign will �change the habits of American politics.�

�I understand that deeply felt concern that people have about the way corruption has overtaken our government. It�s in the executive branch. It�s in Congress. It�s in the leadership of both political parties,� he added.

In July, Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, met Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle at an event in Tennessee. They discussed their shared beliefs, including around vaccine mandates and pandemic-era shutdowns, and the two have been in touch since, McArdle told CNN Friday. She said she has not received a commitment from Democratic National Committee Kennedy to run as a Libertarian Party candidate.

�I haven�t heard anything official or unofficial about him switching,� McArdle told CNN.

The New York Times first reported the meeting between Kennedy and McArdle.

Kennedy, who is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and son of assassinated 1968 presidential candidate and former US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, has run a controversial campaign that has sought to be a thorn in Biden and the Democratic Party�s side.

Since launching his bid to primary Biden in April, Kennedy�s campaign has failed to gain traction with Democrats despite polling indicating they are open to supporting alternatives to Biden. In a recent CNN poll of Democratic-aligned voters around the country, just 1% of those surveyed who said they want Democrats to nominate someone other than Biden named Kennedy as the person they�d like to see win the nomination.

Kennedy�s campaign has also failed to gain traction with New Hampshire Democrats, despite making the Democratic Party�s proposal to reorganize the Democratic National Committee primary calendar and demote the Granite State from its first-in-the-nation primary status a centerpiece of his effort to win supporters in the state. A CNN/University of New Hampshire poll of likely Democratic primary voters released last week showed Kennedy with 9% support compared with 78% support for Biden.

At campaign events in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Kennedy has attracted support from voters of both parties who are drawn to his views on Covid-19 and the coronavirus vaccine. A longtime vaccine skeptic, Kennedy founded the Children�s Health Defense, an organization that promotes discredited claims Democratic National Committee linking vaccines to autism, and has frequently promoted vaccine skepticism on the campaign trail. At campaign events, he also frequently criticizes corruption in both political parties and by private corporations and asset management firms, painting himself as an outsider candidate who can root out corruption in all forms.

RFK

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