RFK Jr. claims 'the swamp' is trying to drive a 'wedge' between him and Trump and announces he's NOT running for president in 2028
Kennedy took to X to dispel rumors he was eyeing another presidential bid under the nose of Trump, who appointed him HHS head after Kennedy endorsed the Republican and ended his independent 2024 bid last August.
On Wednesday, Trump's most controversial outside adviser Laura Loomer told Politico Playbook that she wanted a top Kennedy aide ousted, over concerns the adviser was helping the HHS secretary quietly mount a White House run.
'The swamp is in full panic mode,' Kennedy said on X. 'D.C. lobby shops are laboring fiercely to drive a wedge between President Trump and me, hoping to thwart our team from dismantling the status quo and advancing POTUS' Make America Healthy Again agenda.'
'They're pushing the flat-out lie that I'm running for president in 2028,' Kennedy continued. 'Let me be clear: I am running for president in 2028.'
He added that 'my loyalty is to President Trump and the mission we've started.'
Kennedy then addressed Loomer's call for his principal deputy chief of staff and senior counselor, Stefanie Spear, to be fired.
Spear served as his 2024 campaign press secretary, one of Kennedy's most visible campaign officials.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted to X Friday to set the record straight that he was not pursuing another presidential bid and that President Donald trump had answered his '20-year prayer' to run the country's top health agency
'Their attacks on my staff, especially Stefanie Spear - a fierce, loyal warrior for MAHA who proudly serves in the Trump Administration and works every day to advance President Trump's vision for a healthier, stronger America - are proof we're over the target,' Kennedy said.
Other conservatives in the MAGA movement took issue with Spear just weeks into the administration.
In February Axios quoted a number of unnamed sources from conservative organizations who had problems with some of Spear's previous social media posts - which expressed support for Democratic causes.
Kennedy started his presidential campaign as a Democrat - the party of his famous family - but switched his affiliation to independent in October 2023 when it was clear he wouldn't be able to beat incumbent President Joe Biden in the 2024 Democratic primary.
A year ago, Kennedy joined forces with the Republican Trump - combining the MAGA movement with MAHA - Make America Healthy Again.
That coalition aided Trump in winning the election against Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
Last month, Axios reported that a call that included hundreds of MAHA supporters, including controversial comedian Russell Brand, appeared to be setting the table for Kennedy to launch another presidential bid.
That move could ruffle feathers with Trump, who is constitutionally barred from serving a third term, but has already indicated that he wants to play kingmaker in the next presidential election.
The involvement of Tony Lyons on the call, who had run Kennedy's MAHA PAC, signaled to some attendees that a 2028 bid was in the making.
Lyons has protested that interpretation and did so again on Friday.
'The story that Secretary Kennedy was running for president was a made up story. There's no truth to it whatsoever,' he told the Daily Mail. 'Secretary Kennedy never gave any indication that he was planning to run for president.'
Lyons said that Kennedy was 'disrupting an entrenched and deeply corrupt system that has allowed a small group of companies to make incredible profits from products that make Americans sick.'
'Those companies are spending millions to attack Secretary Kennedy, Stefanie Spear and the rest of his incredible team,' Lyons continued. 'This is a desperate attempt to protect a revenue stream that is dependent on poisoning the American public.'
Kennedy, a prominent vaccine sceptic, was more vague in his post on who was to blame for spreading the 2028 rumors and tarnishing Spear in media reports.
'The president has made himself the answer to my 20-year prayer that God would put me in a position to end the chronic disease epidemic - and that's exactly what my team and I will do until the day he leaves office,' Kennedy said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Moment flustered Putin winces as he's bombarded with questions from the free press asking him if he will 'stop killing civilians'
This is the moment a flustered Putin winced as he was bombarded with questions from the free press who asked whether he would 'stop killing civilians' in Ukraine. Sat alongside Donald Trump ahead of their meeting in Alaska on Friday, Vladimir Putin looked visibly uncomfortable as he was queried about a possible ceasefire. As members of the free press were ushered out of the room, Putin found himself surrounded by US journalists that were seeking accountability for the Russian leader. While President Trump appeared to be appreciative of the press' questions, remarking: ' Thank you very much, thank you', Putin, however, seemed somewhat out of his depth. Indeed, his slight smile quickly fell as one reporter shouted out: 'Mr Putin, will you break ceasefire?', before another journalist asked: 'Will you commit to not killing any more civilians?' In response, he then appeared to put his hands to his mouth and say something inaudible before making another face of confusion as another journalist queried: 'President Putin, why should President Trump trust your word now?' However, before Mr Putin had an opportunity to respond further, the press were ushered out of the room. Following Mr Putin's run-in with the crowd of passionate reporters, both him and Mr Trump began their historic crunch talks. During their two-and-a-half-hour summit, the two were understood to have failed to reach an agreed deal on Ukraine, with President Trump declaring in a press conference afterwards: 'there's no deal until there's a deal'. Despite failing to yield an immediate result, the US President appeared upbeat, saying that there were 'many, many points' that the pair 'agreed on' but that there was one issue - 'the most significant' - that they had not cracked. 'We didn't get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there,' he added, without divulging any specifics. Referring to the Ukrainians, he said that 'ultimately, it's up to them' who have to 'agree with' what his administration think. He finished it off by thanking Putin once more and saying: 'We'll speak to you very soon, and probably see you again very soon. Thank you very much, Vladimir.' Putin then seemed to catch the President by surprise as he responded in English by asking, 'Next time in Moscow? ' A visibly stunned Mr Trump said: 'Oh, that's an interesting one... Prior to the near three-hour meeting, Putin had praised Mr Trump as his 'dear neighbour', thanking his administration for his 'strive to get to the crux of the matter' as the two nations 'pave the path towards peace' 'I'll get a little heat on that one, but I can see it possibly happening. Thank you very much. Thank you all.' There was no mention of a ceasefire during the 12-minute press conference, with zero questions taken before both presidents shook hands, briefly posed for pictures and then sauntered out of the room. Prior to the near three-hour meeting, Putin had praised Mr Trump as his 'dear neighbour', thanking his administration for his 'strive to get to the crux of the matter' as the two nations 'pave the path towards peace'. Mr Putin also revealed that he had greeted Mr Trump by telling him: 'Good afternoon, dear neighbour. Very good to see you in good health and to see you alive.' Making reference to Mr Trump's frequent blaming of the war on Biden, Putin said: When President Trump said that if he was the president back then, there would have been no war, I'm quite sure that it would indeed be. So I can confirm that.' He also added that he has 'always considered the Ukrainian nation… a brotherly nation'. Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev told Interfax news agency that the Trump-Putin meeting had gone 'incredibly well'. However, Ukrainian politician Oleksandr Merezhko slammed the summit as a 'failure'. He said: 'I think it's a failure because Putin was again talking about security concerns and used his usual rhetoric,' he told The New York Times. 'I don't see any changes.' On Sunday morning, the US President hit back at his critics, posting on his social media platform Truth Social On Sunday morning, the US President hit back at his critics, posting on his social media platform Truth Social: 'It's incredible how the Fake News violently distorts the TRUTH when it comes to me. 'There is NOTHING I can say or do that would lead them to write or report honestly about me. I had a great meeting in Alaska on Biden's stupid War, a war that should have never happened!!!' Only minutes later, he posted: 'If I got Russia to give up Moscow as part of the Deal, the Fake News, and their PARTNER, the Radical Left Democrats, would say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal. 'That's why they are the FAKE NEWS! Also, they should talk about the 6 WARS, etc., I JUST STOPPED!!! MAGA.' It comes as Volodymyr Zelensky has said that giving up land for peace in a future agreement with Russia could be 'impossible'. Speaking in Brussels today, the Ukrainian president insisted that his country's constitution made it 'impossible to give up territory or trade land'. He added: 'Since the territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia at a trilateral meeting.' 'We need real negotiations, which means we can start where the front line is now.' Pictured: President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed to Melsbroek Air Base near Brussels today. Zelensky was speaking ahead of a virtual meeting with European leaders and before he travels to Washington to meet with Donald Trump Zelensky was speaking ahead of a virtual meeting with European leaders and before he travels to Washington to meet with Donald Trump. The Ukranian leader will be accompanied by several European allies, including Sir Keir Starmer, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, German chancellor Friedrich Merz and France's Emmanuel Macron. Other European leaders confirming they will go tomorrow included Finnish president Alexander Stubb, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte. Zelensky reiterated his position that it was necessary to establish a ceasefire in order to then negotiate a final deal. He also said that Ukraine did not yet know all the demands made by Putin at the meeting with Trump on Friday, adding that it would take a long time to go over them - and that this was not possible under 'the pressure of weapons'. Downing Street has insisted that Sir Keir and other allies stand ready to support the next phase of talks to end the war. A statement from No 10 said: 'At the meeting that will take place at the White House tomorrow, the Prime Minister, with other European partners, stands ready to support this next phase of further talks and will reaffirm that his backing for Ukraine will continue as long as it takes.' Yesterday, Sir Keir commended Mr Trump for bringing the conflict 'closer than ever' to an end.
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Starmer hails Zelensky's desire for ‘just peace' amid fears of Russian land grab
Sir Keir Starmer has hailed Volodymyr Zelensky's desire for a 'just and lasting peace' in Ukraine, amid worries a Russian land grab could result from negotiations to end the war. The Prime Minister and French President Emmanuel Macron chaired a meeting of the coalition of the willing on Sunday afternoon, where European leaders prepared for a meeting with Donald Trump alongside Mr Zelensky in Washington on Monday. European leaders appear poised to join Mr Zelensky in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian president, after his last encounter with his American counterpart in the Oval Office resulted in a diplomatic crisis. Giving a readout of the video call between coalition allies, a Downing Street spokesman said: 'The leaders reaffirmed their continued support to Ukraine, and praised President Zelensky's desire for a just and lasting peace as he prepares for further consultations with President Trump in Washington DC. 'The leaders also commended President Trump's commitment to providing security guarantees to Ukraine, in which the coalition of the willing will play a vital role through the Multinational Force Ukraine, among other measures. 'They re-emphasised the readiness to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased, and to help secure Ukraine's skies and seas and regenerate Ukraine's armed forces.'
The Guardian
27 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Zelenskyy faces daunting trip to the White House – but this time he will not be alone
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will make his second visit to the White House on Monday with the daunting task of reversing the damage done to Ukraine's security prospects by Friday's Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. Zelenskyy will not, however, be alone as he was on his first trip to the White House in February when he was ambushed and humiliated by Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance, who sought to bully him into capitulation to Moscow's demands. This time the Ukrainian leader comes to Washington flanked by a dream team of European leaders, including Britain's Keir Starmer, Germany's Friedrich Merz and France's Emmanuel Macron, who combine economic and military clout with proven rapport with Trump. Their mission will be to try to use their individual and combined influence to coax the president out of the pro-Russian positions he adopted after just a couple of hours under Putin's sway in the sub-Arctic on Friday. To do that, they will have to project a more convincing sense of resolve and common purpose than they have managed hitherto, argued Ben Rhodes, a former adviser to Barack Obama. 'My advice would be to not capitulate to Trump,' Rhodes said. 'He has grown all too accustomed to people he perceives as weaker bending to his will, which is something that Putin does not do … Zelenskyy cannot be expected to do this alone, as that's what got him into that last mess in the Oval Office. Zelenskyy needs Europe. And the Europeans need to show a strength to stand up to Trump which they have not really shown yet.' Macron and Merz will accompany Zelenskyy on Monday as embodiments of the two pillars of Europe, the French-German axis that is at the core of the EU. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, will be a reminder of Europe's combined importance as an economic juggernaut. Trump struck a EU-US trade deal with her just three weeks ago in Scotland, and hailed the relationship as 'the biggest trading partnership in the world'. Brett Bruen, a former White House director of global engagement, said the Europeans should focus on economics and use the White House meeting 'as a chance to remind Trump how small Russia's economy is vis-a-vis the EU and the UK and other western partners.' The principal role in Team Zelenskyy of Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, will be as a useful bridge: a European far-rightwinger who Trump counts as a friend but who also supports Ukrainian sovereignty. The Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, represents an even smaller European state but he is on the team because he managed to establish an unexpectedly warm relationship with Trump. The Finn cultivated his access to the president by hastily polishing up his rusty golfing skills for an impromptu trip to Florida in March for a round with Trump, on the recommendation of the Republican senator Lindsey Graham. Stubb used the occasion to offer the perspective of Russia's closest European neighbour, urging Trump not to trust Vladimir Putin. Starmer combines national clout and personal rapport in some measure. Trump has gone out of his way to emphasise their good relations, despite Starmer's 'liberal' outlook, and the president arguably has an incentive not to sour relations ahead of a state visit to the UK next month, an extravaganza in which Trump sets high store. Mark Rutte also brings the influence of high office, as Nato secretary general, with a proven track record of corralling Trump with honeyed words, at one point appointing him the 'daddy' among world leaders, helping avoid any disastrous outbursts at the Nato summit in June. 'A lot of people have learned the lessons of Trump, in terms of how you handle him,' said Kim Darroch, who was the UK ambassador to Washington in Trump's first term. 'There will be a lot of flattery. It's tiresome but it's necessary: it gets you to first base. You tell him how well he's doing, how glad everyone is that he is leading the west to find a solution to the war. But then you get onto the substance.' The fact that all these leaders have cleared their diaries to fly to Washington at short notice is a measure of how alarmed they were by Friday's Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage. The Russian president, wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes in the wake of his unprovoked full invasion of Ukraine, was feted with a red carpet and a personal round of applause from Trump, who allowed him to speak first after the truncated abortive meeting and abruptly dropped his previous insistence on a ceasefire. Instead, the US president uncritically accepted Putin's preference to move straight to a comprehensive peace deal, putting the onus on Ukraine to make territorial concessions. One diplomatic observer likened the prospect of Monday's White House showdown in the shadow of Alaska to a football team coming out for a second half trailing 0-3 but with a raft of super-substitutes on the field. The first challenge will be staying together and sticking to the same talking points. 'Put up a united front and speak from one set of points,' advised Ivo Daalder, a former US ambassador to Nato. 'The goal is to get Trump to agree and side with them. But the message must be that their position is real, won't change, and if Trump doesn't agree they will pursue their path on their own.' 'Trump won't have the patience to listen to the same pitch a dozen times,' Darroch said. 'So for the initial round they probably need to select a couple of European speakers alongside Zelenskyy: perhaps Rutte as secretary general of Nato and Macron as the senior European national leader. 'My advice to Starmer would be to wait and see how the conversation goes,' Darroch added. 'If it goes badly off-track, or gets a bit spiky, he can intervene to pull it back on course, or calm it down, or just try to build some bridges. Because the risk is that if Trump thinks that the whole exercise is basically about telling him he's got it wrong, he could react badly or just close the discussion down.' On the way into the White House, Zelenskyy and his European backers can steel themselves with knowledge that not all is lost. The worst fear was that Trump would strike a deal with Putin in Alaska which would be presented as a fait accompli to Kyiv. That did not happen. Furthermore, they have potential allies inside the Trump administration. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, is a traditional Republican whose instincts towards Russia are hawkish, although he has a record of going along with the flow of the president's impulses. On Sunday, Rubio gave the arriving delegation some hope, insisting to NBC that a ceasefire is 'not off the table' and confirming that the US is interested in contributing to western security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal, acknowledging 'it's one of their fundamental demands is that if this war were to end, they have to make sure this never happens again'. The arrival of so many European luminaries in Washington is a sign of panic, in part, but also of united resolve. Arguably the only way the delegation could be strengthened would be with the inclusion of a Norwegian. Last week, Trump is reported to have cold-called the Norwegian foreign minister (and former Nato secretary general) Jens Stoltenberg, catching him by surprise on his mobile while he was out on the street. The president is said to have pressed Stoltenberg on his obsession with winning a Nobel peace prize, an award decided by a Norwegian parliamentary-appointed committee. One of the cards Trump's visitors will have in their hands on Monday is a reminder that cosying up to Putin is unlikely to get him the Nobel he craves. 'Second-term Trump has his eye on his place in the history books,' Darroch said. 'This is a point which needs to be put across delicately, but history will be kind to him if he delivers a fair peace in Ukraine; less so if he presses for a capitulation.'
