The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has opened an investigation into former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for allegedly decapitating a whale that died 20 years ago, Fox News Digital has confirmed.
The controversy erupted in August after Kennedy's daughter, Kick Kennedy, said in a resurfaced 2012 interview with Town & Country that her father had once used a chainsaw to cut off the head of a beached whale. According to the interview, her father reportedly attached the whale's head to his car and drove it to New York.
But Kick Kennedy said what happened was just a normal day for her family.
“Every time we were speeding down the highway, whale juice would pour into the car window and it was the most disgusting thing in the world,” she told the outlet. “We all had plastic bags over our heads with holes in them and people on the highway would give us the middle finger and it was a normal thing for us.”
Environmental groups attack RFK JR as story about dead whale head resurfaces
Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel in Phoenix on Aug. 23, 2024. (Rebecca Noble)
When asked about the incident on Tuesday, NOAA told Fox News Digital that it is “longstanding NOAA practice not to comment on ongoing investigations.”
Kennedy first claimed on Saturday during a campaign event for former President Donald Trump that he was under federal investigation for the decades-old incident.
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The former presidential candidate and now Trump supporter told rally attendees that the investigation was “a weaponization by the government against my political opponents.”
Whales are protected by the Endangered Species Act. (Alfredo Martinez)
The Center for Biodiversity Action Fund called on NOAA to investigate the incident described by Kennedy's daughter, which came just days after Kennedy ended his presidential run in August and vowed to work with President Trump.
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The group, which has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, argued that Kennedy violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act because whales are still protected under those laws.
