Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Monday that he would choose a special investigator to check if the sentences of those found guilty of crimes connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, disturbance at the Capitol were fair. He believes this would help to bring back peace and rebuild trust in the U.S. government.
Kennedy, who is running for president as an independent, made these comments during an episode of “Cuomo” on NewsNation with Chris Cuomo on Monday evening.
“I would appoint a special investigator to look at that,” Kennedy said. “My goal, Chris, is not to clear those people, but just to restore peace. I think, you know, we’re living in a time when Americans don’t trust their government anymore. And that is really what the problem is. There is no trust in the government, and we need to restore that trust.”
Kennedy has tried to find a middle ground on the Jan. 6 issue between former President Trump, the expected GOP nominee who has suggested many of those convictions were unfair, and President Biden, whose Justice Department carried out prosecutions.
The independent candidate faced criticism after his campaign sent out a fundraising email last week describing those involved in the Jan. 6 riot as “activists” who had been “stripped of their Constitutional liberties.”
His campaign’s spokesperson later said the email language was an error.
“That statement was an error that does not reflect Mr. Kennedy’s views,” Stefanie Spear’s statement said. “It was inserted by a new marketing contractor and slipped through the normal approval process.”
Kennedy told Cuomo that his campaign had made a “couple” of mistakes for which he had taken responsibility.
“It started with an email that went out about Jan. 6 from my campaign that did not reflect my views about Jan. 6, and it was followed very quickly by a press release that had a factual error in it,” Kennedy said Monday. “All I can say is: This is my responsibility. It’s my campaign. We have a lot of hardworking people on the campaign, but we’re all drinking from fire hoses.”
Kennedy stated his belief that Jan. 6, 2021, was a “protest that turned into a riot,” but added that labeling it an insurrection would depend on the definition.
“I think there were people who wanted insurrection,” he said. “But I don’t know what your definition of an insurrection is. If your definition is armed men who are in aid who are intending to take over the United States government, it wasn’t that. I think there were people there who wanted to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the other.”
