Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed on April 5 to appoint a special prosecutor, if he’s elected president, to investigate whether prosecutors bringing cases against people over the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol have abused their power.
“Like many reasonable Americans, I am concerned about the possibility that political objectives motivated the vigor of the prosecution of the J6 defendants, their long sentences, and their harsh treatment. That would fit a disturbing pattern of the weaponization of government agencies ... against political opponents,” Mr. Kennedy said in a statement.
“One can, as I do, oppose Donald Trump and all he stands for, and still be disturbed by the weaponization of government against him. As president, I will appoint a special counsel—an individual respected by all sides—to investigate whether prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends in this case, and I will right any wrongs that we discover.”
Mr. Kennedy’s comments came after his campaign disavowed a fundraising email that described Jan. 6 defendants as activists.
The email, sent on April 4, was headlined by a call for money to help Mr. Kennedy “expose the deep state” and “free Julian Assange,” the Wikileaks founder who has been charged by U.S. authorities, news outlets reported. It also referenced Edward Snowden, the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor who exposed illegal spying by the agency.
“This is the reality that every American Citizen face—from Ed Snowden, to Julian Assange to the J6 activists sitting in a Washington D.C. jail cell stripped of their Constitutional liberties. Please help our campaign call out the illiberal actions of our very own government,” the email stated.
Mr. Kennedy’s campaign said that the part of the email referring to Jan. 6 defendants should not have been sent out.
“That statement was an error that does not reflect Mr. Kennedy’s views. It was inserted by a new marketing contractor and slipped through the normal approval process,” a campaign spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.
The campaign says it terminated its contract with the vendor, which it declined to identify.
“Anybody who violated the law on Jan. 6 should be subject to appropriate criminal and/or civil penalties,” the spokesperson added.
Mr. Kennedy, 70, is running in the 2024 presidential election as an independent after being stymied by Democrats who are supporting President Joe Biden’s re-election bid.
Democratic National Committee spokesman Matt Corridoni said in a statement that Mr. Kennedy’s disavowed statement “captures his views perfectly.”
“This should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed RFK Jr.’s candidacy: he’s spent the week claiming that President Biden is a bigger threat to democracy than Donald Trump; he’s being propped up by Trump’s biggest donor; and he’s been praised by the likes of Steve Bannon. What is surprising is that RFK Jr. and his campaign believe that everyone would be naive enough to look the other way when he spouts more MAGA talking points,” Mr. Corridoni added. Mr. Bannon is a former adviser to President Trump, who has used the campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” or MAGA.
Mr. Kennedy also said Friday that many Jan. 6 defendants broke the law but he was not sure whether the riot was an insurrection. He said he was listening to people with different viewpoints on the situation “in order to make sense of the event and what followed.”
Mr. Kennedy has previously said that if he wins the election, he would consider pardoning some of the people charged over the breach.
Mr. Kennedy has also said he would definitely pardon Mr. Assange, who American authorities have been trying to extradite from London to the United States to face conspiracy and other charges related to WikiLeaks soliciting and obtaining government information, and Mr. Snowden, who was charged with violating the Espionage Act and currently lives in Russia.
“I would pardon people,” Mr. Kennedy said on Fox News. “I intend to use the pardon power, and I intend to use it very quickly in office. I’m going to pardon Julian Assange. I’m going to pardon Edward Snowden. I may pardon Ross Ulbricht if I find that his prosecution was, that his sentence, his very lengthy sentence, was the result of making an example of him in order to punish Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.”
Mr. Ulbricht is serving a life sentence for running Silk Road, a website that enabled people to buy and sell drugs and other goods and services.
Former President Donald Trump, during his single term, said he was considering pardoning Mr. Snowden but never pardoned him. President Trump, Mr. Assange has said, offered him a pardon in exchange for a statement saying Russia did not hack the Democratic National Committee. President Trump’s White House denied the claim.
Mr. Kennedy has been making plays for people who will not vote for President Trump or President Biden, and people who are amenable to not voting for them.
President Biden has repeatedly lambasted people charged over the breach and has not expressed any interest in pardoning them. President Trump has recently begun questioning the treatment of defendants, describing them as “hostages” and saying he would be looking at pardons if he wins another term.
Some Jan. 6 defendants have been held in pretrial detention for months or even years. Some are currently in pretrial detention.
As of March 6, more than 1,350 people have been charged in relation to the breach, including about a third who have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees. About 770 defendants have pleaded guilty, while 152 have been found guilty at trials. Of the roughly 860 defendants who have been sentenced, about 500 have been sentenced to jail time.
