Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 'will not comment' on former babysitter's sexual assault allegations

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would make “no comment” on allegations of sexual assault made by a former babysitter hired to help his family in 1998, but admitted to having “a lot of skeletons in my closet.”

In a Vanity Fair In a story published Tuesday, July 2, Eliza Cooney claims the 70-year-old independent presidential candidate made inappropriate advances toward her 26 years ago when she was employed by him.

Kennedy was asked about the allegations on the YouTube political show Breaking points Tuesday afternoon.

“This article is a load of crap,” Kennedy said. “As for the other allegations, I said it from the beginning: I am not a church kid. I don’t present myself as such. 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.”

“Vanity Fair “I'm recycling 30-year-old stories and I'm not going to comment on the specifics of any of them, but I am who I am,” he added.

“You are talking about the nanny situation here,” confirmed host Saagar Enjenit. “I have to ask sir, are you denying it or not?”

“I'm not going to comment on that,” Kennedy replied.

According to the article, Cooney, then 23, was hired as the Kennedys' part-time babysitter in the fall of 1998.

At the time, Kennedy, the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and son of former United States Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, was married to Mary Richardson Kennedy.

The former couple, who married in 1994 and divorced in 2012, have four children together: Conor, Kyra, Aidan and Finn.

Cooney was a recent college graduate who moved into Kennedy and Mary's home in Mount Kisco, New York, to babysit and assist Kennedy in his environmental law clinic at Pace University during the week, Vanity Fair said.

Cooney allegedly kept a diary in which she recorded Kennedy's unwanted sexual advances. One of the incidents described in the article allegedly took place on the evening of November 7, 1998, in the Kennedy family kitchen.

“From what everyone says about the Kennedys and their babysitters, they made me worry. Like I should be careful, be careful. And the other night, in the kitchen with Murray, I could have sworn he was touching my leg and my hand,” the excerpt reads.

“I felt like he thought I was someone else or he wasn't paying attention. Like he would come back every now and then and get over his emotions or I would drift away. It was like he was on something or really tired or he missed Mary or he was testing me.”

Cooney, now 48, also said Vanity Fair that on another occasion she had found Kennedy shirtless in his bedroom, asking her to put lotion on his back. According to the former employee, the politician was then in his forties.

“I wondered if Mary was home. Wasn't she doing this for you?” she recalled in Tuesday's article, adding: “It was totally inappropriate.”

Cooney also discussed an alleged incident a few months later, in which she allegedly grabbed a snack from the pantry after a yoga class. While she was still wearing a sports bra and leggings, Kennedy allegedly “cornered her inside the room and began groping her, putting his hands on her hips and sliding them down her ribcage and breasts,” according to the report.

“I had my back turned to the pantry door and he came up behind me,” Cooney said. “I was paralyzed. In shock.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

PEOPLE reached out to representatives for Kennedy for comment but did not immediately hear back. PEOPLE was unable to independently verify Cooney's statements.

Following the height of the #MeToo movement, Cooney told his mother about Robert's alleged sexual abuse, but decided not to go public with the matter until he recently announced his candidacy for president.