President John F. Kennedy’s only grandson defended his criticism of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential bid Tuesday, insisting that he “stands by” calling his run embarrassing.
Jack Schlossberg, 30, was asked about a July social clip where he blasted Kennedy’s campaign as “an embarrassment,” during an appearance with his mom, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, on NBC’s “Today.”
In the clip, the Democratic scion accused the presidential hopeful of “trading in on Camelot, celebrity, conspiracy theories and conflict for personal gain and fame.”
“I’m very glad I did it. I stand by what I said, um, in my video,” Schlossberg told host Savannah Guthrie.
“I love my family, and I’m very proud of our legacy of public service,” he continued.
“I think Joe Biden is a fantastic president. I think on every issue from, uh, the economy, health care, climate change, civil rights, his record speaks for itself.”
Kennedy, 65, the White House’s Australian ambassador, also weighed in with a dig at her cousin when asked if the family rift was “complicated.”
“Not complicated … Because I know what I think. I know what Jack thinks. I know what Bobby Kennedy thinks, so it’s uncomplicated,” she said, suggesting that her uncle, the slain attorney general, would not approve of his son’s candidacy.
Schlossberg made headlines in July when he accused Robert Kennedy Jr. of running for the Democratic nomination for “vanity.”
“I’ve listened to him. I know him. I have no idea why anyone thinks he should be president,” he said of Kennedy Jr., who is his grandfather’s nephew.
Kennedy, 69, had traded in conspiracy theories and false statements before launching a bid to unseat Biden.
He has claimed, without evidence, that vaccines cause autism, Wi-Fi causes cancer and that chemicals in the water supply can turn children transgender.
Kennedy has also asserted that COVID-19 is a genetically engineered bioweapon that may have been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
He has claimed, without evidence, that vaccines cause autism, Wi-Fi causes cancer and that chemicals in the water supply can turn children transgender.
The environmental lawyer is the only notable Democrat challenging Biden’s re-election bid, even as the vast majority of party voters believe he is too old to serve another term.
If Biden were re-elected, he would be 86 at the end of his presidency.
Kennedy currently has the support of 12% of Democratic voters, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Schlossberg and Kennedy appeared on the morning show to highlight the Kennedy Foundation’s Profiles in Courage award recipients — five bipartisan female South Carolina lawmakers who banded together to fight abortion restrictions, and the leaders of Japan and South Korea — and to discuss their re-enactment of JFK’s famous three-mile swim in the Solomon Islands during World War II.