Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apologized on July 16 after video footage of a discussion he had with former President Donald Trump was leaked.
“When President Trump called me I was taping with an in-house videographer. I should have ordered the videographer to stop recording immediately. I am mortified that this was posted,” Mr. Kennedy wrote on the social media platform X.
“I apologize to the president,” he added.
Mr. Kennedy’s son leaked the video online earlier in the day, according to screenshots of the post. The younger Kennedy later deleted the video, but it circulated widely online.
“I am a firm believer that these sorts of conversations should be had in public,” Mr. Kennedy’s son wrote.
During the conversation, former President Trump can be heard discussing having Mr. Kennedy offer some form of support for him.
“I would love you to do something—and I think it would be so good for you and so big for you,” he said.
He later said, “We’re going to win,” prompting a “yeah” from Mr. Kennedy.
“We’re way ahead of the guy,” the former president also said, referring to President Joe Biden.
Mr. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who has led the health group Children’s Health Defense, originally launched a 2024 campaign as a Democrat. But he switched to being an independent after many Democrats declared their support for the incumbent president, who is running for another term.
Former President Trump was speaking after surviving an assassination attempt during a rally over the weekend in Pennsylvania.
The bullet that struck his right ear “felt like a giant, like the world’s largest mosquito,” the former president told Mr. Kennedy.
Former President Trump appeared at the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin two days after the assassination attempt. His ear was bandaged.
The former president’s campaign has described him as fine.
The shooter was killed by law enforcement. Officials have said they’re investigating how the shooting took place.
President Biden spoke to former President Trump after the situation unfolded. “It was very nice, actually,” former President Trump said on the leaked call.
Mr. Kennedy and former President Trump also touched on vaccines.
Mr. Kennedy wrote on X before the video was leaked that he had spoken with former President Trump.
“Our main topic was national unity, and I hope to meet with Democratic leaders about that as well,” he said. “No, I am not dropping out of the race.”
After candidate Trump was elected in 2016, he asked Mr. Kennedy to chair a commission on vaccine safety, according to Mr. Kennedy. The commission was never convened.
Donald Trump Jr., one of the former president’s sons, said recently that there might be a place for Mr. Kennedy in a second Trump administration if his father wins in November.
