Donald Trump vows to release JFK assassination documents after Robert F Kennedy Jr quits race and endorses him
24 August 2024, 09:08
Donald Trump has vowed to release thousands of JFK assassination documents after Robert F Kennedy Jr quit the presidential race to endorse him.
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Robert F Kennedy Jr, known as RFK Jr, is the nephew of assassinated former president JFK and the son of Bobby Kennedy.
He announced on Friday that he had quit the presidential race and instead chose to endorse Donald Trump.
The Kennedy family has criticised the move, saying it is a "betrayal" of their values.
But Trump welcomed the decision, praising him for "an extraordinary campaign".
He said that, if he is elected, he will establish "a new independent presidential commission on assassination attempts".
It comes after an assassination attempt against him at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13.
Trump said the commission would also be required to release all remaining documents linked to JFK's assassination in 1963.
More than 60 years on, around 4,700 files connected to the case remain partially or heavily redacted.
Read more: RFK Jr quits presidential race and endorses Donald Trump
Announcing that he was quitting the race on Friday, RFK Jr said the Democratic Party was no longer "champions of the constitution" and had "dramatically" moved away from its "core values".
Hitting out at the party, Mr Kennedy claimed he would have won the race in an “honest system” but praised his campaign team for “pulling off a miracle”.
"You showed everyone democracy is still possible here," he said.
"Today I'm here to tell you I will not allow your efforts to go to waste."
He accused the Biden administration of launching a “legal war” against former President Trump and accused Kamala Harris of avoiding key policy questions.
He also said of Democrats: "Who needs a policy when you have Trump to hate?"
A statement from his brothers and sisters said: "We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride.
"We believe in Harris and Walz.
"Our brother Bobby's decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear.
"It is a sad ending to a sad story."
Despite claiming to be a lifelong Democrat, Mr Kennedy ran his campaign at odds with many of their policies.
At one point, RFK Jr compared the Covid-19 vaccine rollout to laws in Nazi Germany.
"Even in Hitler's Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did," he said in 2022,
"Today, the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run, and none of us can hide."
