Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy has condemned Donald Trump's conviction following his high-profile hush money criminal trial.
On Thursday, Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment. The former president was accused of arranging shortly before the 2016 election for his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to pay adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she alleges she had with Trump.
The money was listed in the Trump Organization's records as "legal fees," which prosecutors said was part of an unlawful attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 race. Trump had admitted to reimbursing Cohen for the Daniels payment but denied all wrongdoing, saying the criminal trial was part of a political witch hunt aimed at derailing his White House bid. He also denied Daniels' allegation about the encounter.
After being convicted, Trump said outside of the New York City courtroom: "This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt."
Kennedy, the son of former Senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, spoke out about the verdict hours after it was handed down while attending a cryptocurrency conference, Consensus 2024, in Austin, Texas.
"I'd say this was probably the weakest case people brought against him," Kennedy said. "My belief is that it will end up helping President Trump among a large part of [the] American public who believes that the judicial system, the enforcement system, have been weaponized against [him] politically. That's bad for our country.
He went on: "And I think it's a mistake for the Democratic Party. I think the Democratic Party believes it has a candidate that can't beat President Trump and that they need to do it in the court, and I think that's bad for our country, I think it's bad for democracy, and I think it's politically going to backfire on them.
"I'm not a fan of President Trump—I'm running against him," Kennedy continued before listing his issues with Trump's time in office. "The debt, he ran up an $8 trillion debt—more than all presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush combined. He shut down our country after promising that he was going to run America like a business. He shut down all of our business—3.3 billion businesses with no due process, no just compensation, no scientific citation.
"He embroiled our country in foreign wars. The division that we have in our country is now largely due to him and President Biden, and it's not a good thing for our country," Kennedy said.
Newsweek has contacted a representative of Trump via email for comment.
Continuing to criticize Trump, Kennedy said: "His positions on the environment, etcetera, have been bad, to me, for our country. But I think that's what the election should be about—arguing about those issues and not trying to eliminate people. The Democratic Party is trying to eliminate me by making it impossible for me to get on all the ballots. I don't think that's democratic."
Kennedy sought to challenge President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination but withdrew from the race and declared himself an independent candidate last October.
Suggesting that the system has also been weaponized against him, Kennedy said: "I grew up in the Democratic Party, and I was trying to get as many Americans as possible enfranchised to vote, get them legally to vote. And now the Democratic Party is trying to disenfranchise voters and try to push candidates off with legal actions in the courtroom rather than the ballot box.
"Let's say they succeed in doing that. What kind of country are we left with? We're left with a country where half the people are deeply embittered and angry and feeling like they've been screwed. I don't think that's good for our country," he said.
Kennedy also talked about his own experiences, saying: "I think the federal agencies generally have been weaponized. I'm being denied Secret Service protection. The Secret Service itself said that I'm at an enhanced risk, and they had plenty of evidence, including four break-ins at my house since the election occurred by people who are mentally ill.
"People have come to my events wearing guns and fake federal IDs.... I don't want to make this about me, but we've seen very disturbing things," he said.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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