The campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has terminated a consultant, Rita Palma, after a video surfaced of her encouraging support for Mr. Kennedy in New York to help former President Donald J. Trump defeat President Biden. The campaign’s manager, Amaryllis Fox, clarified that Ms. Palma falsely claimed to be the New York state director of the campaign and was let go immediately for misrepresenting her role and sharing inaccurate information.
In the video, Ms. Palma, hired as a ballot access consultant, suggested that both Kennedy and Trump supporters oppose Biden and outlined a scenario where Kennedy could prevent either candidate from reaching 270 electoral votes, leading to a contingent election in Congress. She also mentioned that a Republican-controlled Congress would likely choose Trump in such a situation.
CNN also reported that Ms. Palma promoted false claims about the 2020 election being stolen from Trump and expressed support for him as her “favorite president.” Despite Ms. Fox’s initial statement that the video was not from a campaign event, she later confirmed Ms. Palma’s dismissal and emphasized that her statements did not reflect the campaign’s strategy, which is solely focused on winning the White House.
Allegations of allies of Trump discussing ways to boost third-party candidates like Kennedy to detract votes from Biden have also emerged. Additionally, Kennedy’s recent alignment with Trump and his comments regarding the Jan. 6 Capitol attack have raised concerns. While he retracted some statements and acknowledged campaign errors, Kennedy maintained his commitment to appoint a special counsel to review the cases of certain rioters.
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