Name: Trump Reacts to RFK Jr. Endorsement
Uploaded: 2024-08-24T02:37:48.000Z
Description: Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced on Friday that he is suspending, not ending, his campaign for president, and is throwing his support to former President Donald Trump.

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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced on Friday that he is suspending, not ending, his campaign for president, and is throwing his support to former President Donald Trump.

Here is the latest:
<h2>Trump Reacts to RFK Jr. Endorsement</h2>
Trump, who is campaigning in Las Vegas, said he’d just got a “very nice” endorsement from RFK Jr. that he’ll be talking about in Arizona.

“I want to thank Bobby. That was very nice,” Trump said. “He’s a great guy, respected by everybody.”

Dozens of his supporters packed inside a Mexican and Italian fusion restaurant cheered.
<h2>Harris Campaign Responds</h2>
The Harris campaign released a statement responding to Kennedy’s decision, which appealed to his supporters.

“For any American out there who is tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward, ours is a campaign for you,” campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said. “In order to deliver for working people and those who feel left behind, we need a leader who will fight for you, not just for themselves, and bring us together, not tear us apart. Vice President Harris wants to earn your support.”
<h2>Kennedy's Relatives Respond</h2>
RFK Jr.'s relatives issued a statement on his support for Trump.

"We believe in Harris and Walz. Our brother Bobby's decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story."
<h2>RFK Jr. Calls His Decision Agonizing</h2>
As Kennedy shared what he called an “agonizing” and “heart-wrenching decision to suspend my campaign and to support President Trump,” it evoked another decision he had described as difficult for himself and his family—when he left the Democratic Party to run as an independent.

When he announced that move last fall, he said it was “very painful to let go of the party of my uncles, my father, my grandfather and both of my great-grandfathers.”

During Friday’s announcement, he noted that joining the Trump campaign would be a “difficult sacrifice for my wife and children.”
<h2>RFK Jr. Says He Will Throw His Support to Trump</h2>
RFK Jr. announced he is throwing his support to former President Donald Trump in a news conference in Arizona.

“Three great causes drove me to enter this race in the first place, primarily, and these are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump,” he said.
<h2>RFK Jr. Announces Suspension of Campaign</h2>
RFK Jr. said on Friday that he is suspending his presidential campaign, but not dropping out of the race.

“In my heart, I no longer believe that I have a realistic path to electoral victory in the face of this relentless, systematic censorship and media control,” Kennedy said in a speech from Phoenix, Arizona.

“So I cannot, in good conscience, ask my staff and volunteers to keep working their long hours, or ask my donors to keep giving when I cannot honestly tell them that I have a real path to the White House.”

He said he will seek to remove his name from the ballot in 10 battleground states because he believes his presence in the race would help Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

He said his supporters can continue to back him in the majority of states where they are unlikely to sway the outcome. Kennedy took steps to withdraw his candidacy in at least two states late this week, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

“If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Harris. In red states, the same will apply,” he said.

Kennedy said the move followed conversations with Trump over the past few weeks.

Before the speech, his campaign had said in a Pennsylvania court filing Friday that he would be endorsing Trump for president. However, a spokesperson for Kennedy said the court filing had been made in error.

“Mr. Kennedy has not endorsed President Trump,” said spokesperson Stefanie Spear. “The filing was made by an attorney and not reviewed by the campaign.” She said the filing would be updated.


<h2>RFK Jr. Says in Court Filing He’s Endorsing Trump</h2>
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign said in a Pennsylvania court filing Friday that he is endorsing former President Donald Trump for president.

The campaign also requested that he be removed from the Pennsylvania ballot, though it was not immediately clear that he was officially dropping out of the race. It came a day after he sought to be removed from Arizona’s ballot. He is running as an independent.

Kennedy is set to speak in Arizona at 2:45 p.m. ET “about the present historical moment and his path forward,” according to his campaign. Hours later, Trump will hold a rally in neighboring Glendale. Trump’s campaign has teased that he will be joined by “a special guest,” though neither campaign responded to messages about whether Kennedy would be that guest.

Amid speculation that RFK Jr. will end his campaign, at least one voter says he’ll keep supporting him.

Victor Marani, a 64-year-old retiree from Rio Del Mar, California, said he flew to Phoenix for Kennedy’s news conference after receiving an invitation from the independent candidate’s campaign.

“I learned a long time ago, don’t speculate until you hear what he has to say,” Marani said.

Marani, who identified himself as state chairman of the American Independent Party, said he would continue to support Kennedy.

“He’s not dropping out of California,” Marani said. “He’s on the ballot.”

<em>The Associated Press contributed to this report. </em>

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