Independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. said during a CNN appearance that he believes President Joe Biden is “absolutely” worse for democracy than former President Donald Trump.
RFK Jr., son of former U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, is an attorney who rose to prominence in recent years after his vocal stance against vaccines. He initially aimed to challenge Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination before switching to an independent in October.
During an interview on CNN’s OutFront with host Erin Burnett airing on Monday night, Kennedy Jr. heavily criticized Biden, claiming he was worse for the United States than Trump.
The presumptive GOP nominee for president, Trump faces multiple charges in the January 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol, when his supporters stormed the building in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to halt certification of Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory over Trump. The riot erupted following repeated claims from Trump and his allies that the election was stolen from him via widespread voter fraud despite a lack of evidence to support those claims. The former president, who has maintained his innocence, was indicted by the Department of Justice last year over his actions surrounding the attack.
Newsweek reached out via email on Monday night to representatives of Biden, Kennedy and Trump for comment.
Mario Tama, Alex Wong/Getty
During the OutFront segment, the CNN host asked RFK Jr. whether he believed that Trump and Biden are an “equal” threat to democracy.
“I can make the argument that President Biden is much worse,” Kennedy Jr. said. “And the reason for that is President Biden is the first candidate in history, the first president in history that has used the federal agencies to censor political speech or censor his opponent.”
The long-shot presidential candidate accused Biden of “weaponizing” federal agencies to go after his political rivals.
“The greatest threat to democracy is not somebody who questions election returns but a president of the United States who will use the power of his office to force the social media companies Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, to open a portal and give access to that portal to the FBI, CIA, the IRS, the NIH, to censor his political critics,” he said.
When Burnett asked RFK Jr. how Trump’s alleged involvement in trying to “overturn a free and fair election” was not a threat to democracy, he said he agreed that constitutes a threat, but insisted that Biden’s threat is still worse.
“I think that is a threat to democracy if we’re trying to overthrow the election, clearly a threat,” Kennedy Jr. said. “But the question was, who was a worse threat to democracy? And what I would say is I, you know, I’m not going to answer that question and argue that President Biden is because the First Amendment, Erin, is the most important.”
Burnett asked RFK Jr. to clarify, questioning: “To be clear, you’re saying you could make an argument that President Biden is worse for our democracy than Donald Trump?”
Kennedy Jr. responded, “Absolutely.”
“What president in history has ever tried to censor political opponents? What president has weaponized the federal agencies?” he added.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.