The Kennedy family has branded Robert F Kennedy Jr’s decision to back Donald Trump as a “betrayal” of his father.
Speaking at a news conference, Mr Kennedy said Democrats were no longer “champions of the constitution” and had departed “dramatically” from the “core values” he grew up with.
He added his campaign team had “pulled off a miracle” by making him a presidential candidate.
“You showed everyone democracy is still possible here,” he said. “Today I’m here to tell you I will not allow your efforts to go to waste.”
Mr Kennedy added he believed that in an “honest system” he would have won the election.
He criticised the Democratic Party, saying it had waged “legal warfare” against him and Mr Trump, who is running against vice president Kamala Harris to be elected in the presidential election on 5 November.
According to Sky News’ partner network NBC, Mr Kennedy will be speaking at a Trump rally later today.
His family has responded to news of him endorsing the Republican nominee, saying on X it was a “betrayal of our father/family’s values”.
During his speech, Mr Kennedy also took aim at Ms Harris, who officially accepted her Democratic nomination yesterday, arguing that she had ducked scrutiny and interviews.
He also said of Democrats: “Who needs a policy when you have Trump to hate?”
Reports of Mr Kennedy’s withdrawal from the presidential race emerged earlier in court documents filed by the 70-year-old’s campaign team.
A Pennsylvania court filing asked to remove him from the state’s ballot, according to the AP.
And on Thursday, Arizona officials said Mr Kennedy filed paperwork to remove himself from the presidential ballot there.
Mr Kennedy is the nephew of former US president John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in Dallas in 1963.
He is also the son of former US attorney general Robert F Kennedy, JFK’s brother, who later launched his own presidential bid. He was assassinated in 1968.
RFK Jr was 14 when his father was killed.
Despite his family’s history with the Democratic Party, RFK Jr was running as an independent, after leaving the Democrats in October.
Mr Kennedy is expected to publicly endorse Donald Trump for president. Pic: Reuters
Mr Kennedy has made a name for himself as an anti-vaxxer during the pandemic – and beforehand.
As well as sharing disinformation online, Mr Kennedy became a regular on the anti-mandate rally circuit during the coronavirus response.
At one event, he compared the US government’s use of vaccine mandates to laws in Nazi Germany.
“Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did,” he told the crowd at a march in January 2022.
“Today, the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run, and none of us can hide.”
Read more:
Who is Robert F Kennedy Jr?
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