RFK Jr. campaign says email defending Jan. 6 ‘activists’ was an error

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent candidate running for president, sent a fundraising email Thursday calling the defendants who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, “activists.” , his team later retracted that it was a mistake.

An email sent to his supporters on Thursday said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was a “political prisoner” and accused him and the January 6 rioters of an “outrageous miscarriage of justice.” It suggested that he was a victim.

“Opposites rarely attract, especially in Washington. But when it comes to the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is facing extradition to the U.S., it seems clear that the far-right Marjorie Taylor Greene and the far-left Both Ilhan and Omar agree: “Assange must be released now!” Your email has been read.

“The British want to make sure the government doesn’t kill Assange. This means everything from Ed Snowden to Julian Assange to the J6 activists sitting in jail cells in Washington DC, stripped of their constitutional freedoms. “This is a reality facing all Americans,” the newspaper said.

Kennedy campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Spear said in a statement obtained by The Hill that the email was worded incorrectly.

“That comment was an error that did not reflect Mr. Kennedy’s views,” Speer’s statement, first reported by NBC News, said. “This was inserted by a new marketing contractor and was able to bypass the normal approval process.”

“The campaign has terminated its contract with this vendor,” Spear said in an updated statement.

NBC News pays attention Only 15 of the January 6 defendants are in pretrial detention. Most of these people have been charged with violence against law enforcement officers during the storming of the Capitol.

President Kennedy said in an interview last month that he would not discuss the possibility of pardoning the rioters until he won the general election. He said he would deal with cases on a case-by-case basis, but said he would pardon US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and Assange.

“I forgive people,” Kennedy told Fox News’ Neil Kabuto in March. “I intend to exercise my pardon power, and I intend to exercise it immediately in public office.”

kennedy website I said, “It’s time.” If he defends Assange, he will be pardoned “on his first day in office.” The candidate said he would issue an executive order that would “end all attempts by federal employees and agencies to censor the political speech of Americans.”

More than 1,300 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol riot, and at least 400 have been charged with assaulting law enforcement, according to a Department of Justice report.