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Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr texted a woman who recently came forward with allegations of sexual assault and apologized for the incident, which he claimed to have “no memory of”, according to a new report.
Kennedy reportedly sent the text two days after Vanity Fair published the article on July 2. In the piece, Eliza Cooney accused Kennedy of groping her and making inappropriate comments toward her in 1998 while she was working as a babysitter for his children.
Cooney accused Kennedy of discretely stroking her leg while they were seated at a table, asking her to rub lotion on his bare back and putting his hands on her hips and breasts.
“I have no memory of this incident but 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 allegedly texted Cooney early on July 4, according to The Washington Post.
“I never intended you any harm. If I hurt you, it was inadvertent. I feel badly for doing so,” he added. He then asked Cooney to meet “face to face”.
“If you feel comfortable, Id [sic] like to tell you this by phone, and preferably, face to face. I recognize that this might not be possible. I have no agenda for sending this text other than making the most sincere and ernest [sic] amends,” Kennedy wrote.
Kennedy’s message to Cooney was reportedly sent after he publicly declined to comment on the allegations but admitted he is “not a church boy” and has “so many skeletons” in his closet.
The 2024 presidential candidate told The Washington Post: “The text message speaks for itself” but declined to elaborate.
The Independent has asked the Kennedy campaign for comment on the matter.
Cooney, now 48, told The Post she felt Kennedy’s text message was “disingenuous and arrogant” and sent for damage control purposes.
She told the newspaper she doubted Kennedy failed to remember the incident.
“I’m not sure how somebody has a true apology for something that they don’t admit to recalling. I did not get a sense of remorse,” Cooney said.
Cooney was 23 when she began working as a part-time babysitter for Kennedy and his wife in the fall of 1998. At the time, Cooney was interested in pursuing a career in environmental work, something that aligned closely with Kennedy’s career as an environmental lawyer.
That fall, Cooney kept a diary where she documented her life and an alleged incident in which Kennedy made unwanted sexual advances at her, Vanity Fair reported.
In the entry, she recounted how Kennedy allegedly fondled her thigh underneath a table while they were having a meeting in the family kitchen.
Cooney told Vanity Fair that weeks after the first incident, she found Kennedy in the bedroom she was staying in at their home, shirtless, and standing where her diary was open next to her bed. She claims he requested she rub lotion on his back, something his wife typically did.
In a third instance, Cooney alleges that Kennedy came up behind her while she was in a corner of the family kitchen and began to put his hands on her hips, making his way up her rib cage until he was touching her breasts. She claims another house staff member walked in and interrupted.
Cooney told The Washington Post that she consulted an attorney about the sexual assault but that the criminal statute of limitations had passed. Though she could pursue charges under the New York Adult Survivors Act, she has chosen not to do so.
