RFK Jr. Denies Eating Dog While Avoiding Sexual Assault Allegations in Vanity Fair Article

CNN
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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has denied allegations in a new Vanity Fair report that he ate a dog, while sidestepping sexual assault accusations made by a former nanny in the magazine, saying, “I'm not a church kid.”

In an interview with the political podcast “Breaking Points” released Tuesday, Kennedy called the Vanity Fair article a “pile of garbage” but acknowledged that his past included “a lot of skeletons in my closet.”

The article claims that Kennedy sent a text message to a friend last year, in which he included a photo showing him miming eating a cooked animal carcass. In the message, Kennedy allegedly recommended that his friend try eating dog while traveling in Korea. Vanity Fair reported that the photo’s digital metadata shows it was taken in 2010, and that the publication consulted a veterinarian who said the carcass in the photo appeared to be that of a dog.

Kennedy said the image depicted him eating a goat while traveling in South America.

“This article is a load of crap. The photo they presented as me eating a dog is actually me eating a goat in Patagonia on a whitewater trip many years ago on the Futaleufu River. They say… they have an expert who identified the carcass as a dog. That is simply not true,” Kennedy said.

The Vanity Fair article also mentions Eliza Cooney, a former part-time babysitter who worked for Kennedy between 1998 and 1999, who claims he sexually assaulted her in his kitchen. Kennedy initially refused to directly acknowledge the sexual assault accusation, instead dismissing “the other allegations” as part of a “very, very turbulent youth.”

“I said it from the beginning. I'm not a church kid. I don't present myself that way. I said … I had a very, very turbulent youth. I said in my announcement speech that I had … so many skeletons in my closet, that if they could all vote, I could run for king of the world,” Kennedy said, adding, “Vanity Fair is recycling 30-year-old stories, and you know, I'm not going to comment on the specifics of any of them.”

Asked directly if he denied sexually assaulting Cooney, Kennedy reiterated: “I'm not going to comment on that.”

In a social media post later Tuesday, Kennedy shared the image published by Vanity Fair of him allegedly holding a cooked dog and denied that the photo depicted him eating a dog. He has not responded to the sexual assault allegations in the post.

“Hey @VanityFair, you know that when your veterinary experts call a goat a dog and your forensic experts say a photo taken in Patagonia was taken in Korea, you’ve joined the ranks of the supermarket tabloids,” Kennedy said. “Keep telling America that up is down if you want. I’ll keep talking about how working families can’t afford to buy a home or buy groceries because our last two presidents have been on a $14 trillion debt runaway, paid for by hardworking Americans.”

The accusations in the Vanity Fair article come at a difficult time for Kennedy’s campaign, which is seeking to expand support across the country for his independent presidential bid. Kennedy is on the ballot in seven states, but he faces opposition from Biden allies who are seeking to block his access in several others.

Recent polls have shown Kennedy stagnating against Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential nominees. A CNN poll released Tuesday showed Kennedy with 14% of the vote in a multi-candidate race, behind Trump (41%) and Biden (35%). Those results are roughly in line with a CNN poll released in November that showed Kennedy with 16% of the vote to Trump’s 41% and Biden’s 35%.

The independent candidate also faces an uphill battle in fundraising after bringing in $2.6 million for his campaign in May and spending $6.3 million as he burns through campaign funds to gain ballot access.

Kennedy’s campaign has already been the subject of plenty of unconventional headlines. In May, Kennedy described a medical condition he suffered in 2010 that he said was caused by a parasitic worm that entered his brain and died. Kennedy said the worm caused him “brain fog” and problems with “word retrieval and short-term memory,” but added that the problem had been resolved.