Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared in court in Albany on Monday to defend a lawsuit that alleges he falsely claimed to be a resident of New York state.
The lawsuit, filed by Clear Choice PAC, a super PAC aligned with President Biden and focused on attacking third-party candidates, seeks to invalidate Kennedy’s New York nominating petition over his alleged residency.
According to the lawsuit, Kennedy listed his home in the affluent Westchester County village of Katonah as his home, but has actually been living in Los Angeles since 2014, when he married actress Cheryl Hines.
“Although Mr. Kennedy may have purchased a home in California and temporarily relocated his family there while his wife pursued her acting career, Mr. Kennedy is and always has been a New Yorker,” lawyers for the independent candidates wrote in a court filing. Associated Press.
Kennedy claims the Katonah home he listed on his New York voting rights petition belongs to a friend, and that he has lived there, paid rent, received mail and has the address on his driver’s license since being evicted in March 2023 from another Katonah home owned by a Biden friend and supporter.
The owner, David Michaelis, disputed Kennedy’s claims, claiming they were “fiction” and that Kennedy was never a tenant.
The lawsuit, filed in June, claims Kennedy did not have a written lease and spent “little to no” time in Katonah.
Kennedy’s lawyers argue that the 70-year-old son of the late former New York state senator Robert F. Kennedy has lived in New York state since he was 10 years old and maintains “continuous ties” to the Katonah area.
“He has beloved peregrine falcons in New York state,” his lawyer, William F. Savino, said in a statement Monday, noting that Mr. Kennedy plans to return to New York permanently once his wife retires from acting.
Kennedy is scheduled to testify later this week in a court challenge in which the case will be decided by a judge rather than a jury.
Mark Vergari/The Journal News/USA Today Network
Kennedy’s court appearance came a day after he revealed that in 2014, during a falconry trip in Goshen, New York, he found a dead black bear carcass on the side of the road and dumped it in Central Park.
The bear was killed by a motorist, and Kennedy intended to skin it and refrigerate the meat, but a falconry trip delayed him so he decided to leave the dead bear in a Manhattan park.
The bear’s carcass caused quite a stir at the time and prompted an investigation by state Department of Environmental Conservation officials.
Kennedy will likely never be charged in this bizarre case because the statute of limitations has expired.
Kennedy has an average support rate of 5.5% in presidential polls, compared with former President Donald Trump’s 44.6% and Vice President Kamala Harris’ 44.8% in the latest polls. RealClearPolitics Count Competing for 5th place nationally.
