US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has apologized after his son posted a video recording of a recent phone call with his Republican challenger, Donald Trump. During the call, Trump sought RFK Jr.’s endorsement and said that he shared the independent’s concerns about vaccinating children.
An excerpt of the call, which took place on Sunday, was briefly posted to X on Tuesday by Bobby Kennedy III. It was deleted shortly afterwards. According to screenshots, the younger Kennedy posted the video as he felt “these sorts of conversations should be had in public.”
In the video, Trump told the elder Kennedy that “clearly something’s wrong” with the US’ childhood vaccination program.
“I said I want to do small doses,” Trump told Kennedy Jr. Children are given a “vaccination that’s like 38 different vaccines, and it looks like it’s meant for a horse, not a ten-pound or twenty-pound baby. And then you see the baby all of a sudden starting to change…and then you hear that doesn’t have an impact,” he complained.
“You and I talked about that a long time ago,” Trump added.
Kennedy Jr. has railed against vaccinating children since before the Covid-19 pandemic, and Trump – whose administration funded the development of Covid vaccines – at one point publicly shared his views. “My theory,” he told reporters in 2007, “is the shots” are responsible for causing autism. “We’re giving these massive injections at one time, and I really think it does something to the children.”
Within hours of the video being posted, Kennedy Jr. apologized for the leak. “When President Trump called me I was taping with an in-house videographer,” he explained in a post on X. “I should have ordered the videographer to stop recording immediately. I am mortified that this was posted. I apologize to the president.”
Kennedy Jr. did not speak during the section of the call posted online. After laying out his views on vaccines, Trump appeared to ask for the independent candidate’s endorsement, telling him “it would be so good for you.”
Trump met with Kennedy Jr. the day after the phone call to discuss his possibly suspending his bid for the White House and joining the Republican’s campaign, Politico reported on Monday. The Kennedy campaign acknowledged that the meeting took place but said that the two discussed “national unity,” and that Kennedy Jr. would remain in the race.
Recent polls show Kennedy Jr. winning around 10% of the national vote in a hypothetical race that includes the Green Party’s Jill Stein and the Justice for All Party’s Cornel West. These same polls show Trump leading President Joe Biden by between one and six points.