(WASHINGTON) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign says it has ended its contract with a consultant who was seen on video encouraging people to vote for him in order to get “rid of Biden” even if that means electing former President Donald Trump.
Campaign manager Amaryllis Fox announced the decision in a post on X in response to a Kennedy supporter asking for the campaign to distance itself from the consultant, Rita Palma.
Video of Palma’s comments had energized Democrats online as they said it confirmed their accusations that the purpose of Kennedy’s campaign is to hand the White House back to Trump over President Joe Biden. Kennedy rejects that.
“We terminated her contract for misrepresentation immediately upon seeing the longer video in which she gave an inaccurate job title and described a conversation that did not happen,” Fox wrote on X, referring to Palma.
While speaking to a crowd in New York on Friday at an event unaffiliated with the campaign, Palma falsely identified herself as the campaign’s New York state director, according to the Kennedy campaign and the video of Palma’s comments that circulated online.
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“My time with Team Kennedy has been one of the best political adventures of my life filled with some of the best people I’ve encountered, and i have encountered many,” Palma told ABC News via text message after she was terminated.
“I hold no ill will and look forward to the next seven months of watching Bobby shine,” Palma wrote.
She did not respond to a question about why she identified herself as the campaign’s New York state director.
PHOTO: Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a Cesar Chavez Day event at Union Station on March 30, 2024 in Los Angeles.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a Cesar Ch…Show more
Mario Tama/Getty Images, FILE
Kennedy’s team had already been pushing back on Palma’s comments in the video, which has been shared by Democratic operatives on social media and elsewhere.
At the Friday event, Palma told Kennedy supporters that backing him in New York, even if Trump ultimately won the White House, made sure “we’re rid of Biden either way.”
“Why wouldn’t we put our vote to Bobby and at least get rid of Biden and get those 28 electoral votes in New York … to Bobby rather than to Biden, thereby reducing Biden’s 270?” Palma said in the video. “And we all know all that works, right — 270 wins the election. If you don’t get to 270, if nobody gets to 270, then Congress picks the president, right?
“Who are they going to pick if it’s a Republican Congress? They’ll pick Trump,” Palma said in the video. “So we’re rid of Biden either way.”
Kennedy’s campaign manager told ABC News earlier this week that she had spoken to Palma on Monday and determined she was “operating as a private citizen” at a “health freedom event.”
“She definitely does not speak on behalf of the campaign,” Fox said. “She’s never been to one of our strategy meetings or any kind of leadership meeting on electoral strategy in New York or nationally.”
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