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Robert F Kennedy Jr says he has overcome feelings of “abhorrence” for Donald Trump in order to support his presidential campaign, as he recalled suing the former president “a couple of times.”
The former attorney and Covid conspiracy theorist said that despite several previous legal clashes with Trump – over golf course planning in New York – the pair had remained friendly.
RFK Jr made the remarks during a prime-time interview with clinical psychologist-turned-TV show host, Dr Phil, which was broadcast on Wednesday. An interview with Trump himself was broadcast the day before.
RFK acknowledged that he would be happier with November’s election going in favor of the GOP than the Democrats, “even though I grew up in the Democratic party and, you know... I had the same kind of orientation towards abhorrence for President Trump, as many Democrats maybe... four years ago.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Dr Phil asked: “If this comes down to independents... and you’ve given your support to the Trump candidacy, do you feel like you may very well be the one that selects the next President of the United States by your influence?”
“That’s possible,” RFK Jr replied.
He continued: “But what we recognized from our polling is that if I stayed in the race, it would have almost certainly swung the race to Vice President Harris, who was trying to throw me off the ballot in all the states. Ironically, I thought that that would not be a good outcome, because I differ with her on all the issues.”
He added that his decision to drop out of the race made it “fair” but that now it was “much more likely” that Trump would win in November.
In his own interview, Donald Trump said he was “honored” by RFK Jr’s endorsement, describing him as “smart” and “a different kind of a guy.” However, he remained cagey on whether he would be given a job in a second Trump administration.
“I think he’s going to be a great asset. Will I have him in the administration? I don’t know. We haven’t discussed it. But he adds a lot to the election,” he said.
RFK Jr also agreed the men were “friendly” despite the fact that he had sued Trump “a couple of times.”
“We’ve known each other for a long time, in fact I’ve litigated against him,” RFK said.
“I’ve sued him a couple of times on golf courses that he was building or he was trying to build up in the New York State reservoir... and I was suing to get them from being built.
“But even during that time when I was litigating against him, he ended up giving me a ride to Florida on his plane, so we were friendly, and you know, we had a great time and a lot of laughs. He’s a very congenial and interesting guy, very warm.”
RFK Jr is known to be an advocate of environmental issues.
