RFK Jr. Once Again Veers Off Message To Offer Information No One Asked For 

At a recent Trump campaign event, newly-minted MAGA surrogate RFK Jr. told an audience that he was being investigated by the National Marine Fisheries Service for illegally decapitating a whale carcass with a chainsaw. This story once again prompted a flurry of negative and embarrassing headlines about RFK Jr. 

Instead of being an effective messenger, RFK Jr. continues to be a headache and distraction for the Trump campaign. Whether it’s his comments on TV that Trump lost the debate or his unsolicited admission that he’s being investigated for mutilating yet another animal corpse, RFK Jr. continues to be one of the worst surrogates anyone could ask for. 

Top Headlines 

New York Times: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Says He Is Being Investigated for Whale Carcass

Key Excerpt: “The mention of the investigation was an odd moment at a campaign stop where Mr. Kennedy toggled between urging his followers to support Mr. Trump and continuing to try to sell his own policies on health and environmental issues, now with a refreshed MAGA inflection.”

NBC News: RFK Jr. says he is being investigated for collecting whale specimen

Key Excerpt: “‘Kennedy may think that his name and privilege mean the rules don’t apply to him, but if he had a shred of integrity left he’d surrender this whale skull and any other illegally collected wildlife parts to the authorities,’ said Brett Hartl, political director for the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, in a news release. ‘If he doesn’t, NOAA law enforcement should open an investigation and potentially bring charges against him.’”

Fox News: RFK Jr says he is being investigated over story that he decapitated beached whale

Key Excerpt: “The Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, had argued the dead animal was protected by the Marine Mammal Protection and Endangered Species, making it illegal to possess any part of it.They further claimed that it was likely a felony violation of the 1900 Lacey Act, ‘which prohibits the transportation of any wildlife, dead or alive, that was reduced to possession in violation of any state, federal or international regulation or law.’”

Arizona Republic: RFK Jr., in Glendale, says he’s under investigation for ‘collecting a whale specimen’

Key Excerpt: “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. disclosed he is under investigation for ‘collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago’ during a talk in Glendale, and suggested the probe is politically motivated because it came after he endorsed former President Donald Trump. […] Kennedy brushed off questions about the investigation, although he brought it up unprompted during his time onstage.”

New York Post: RFK Jr. investigated for decapitating whale and driving across state lines with the skull

Key Excerpt: “The whale incident is not the only recent controversy involving Kennedy and dead animals. He also admitted to dumping the body of a dead bear in New York City’s Central Park over a decade ago.” 

The Guardian: RFK Jr says he faces federal investigation for beheading whale

Key Excerpt: “During a campaign event on Saturday for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, in Glendale, Arizona, the former independent presidential candidate said: ‘I received a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Institute saying that they were investigating me for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago.’”

Sky News: Robert F Kennedy Jr says he is being investigated for chopping head off dead whale with chainsaw

Key Excerpt: “The 70-year-old did not go into detail about the decapitation of the whale, but his daughter previously described how he had used a chainsaw to cut the head off a dead whale 30 years ago. Kathleen ‘Kick’ Kennedy, 36, described how when she was six her father had taken the head of the whale after it washed ashore in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, and lashed it to the family’s car with bungee cords to drive it to their home in New York. ‘Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet,’  she told Town & Country magazine in 2012. ‘We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us.’ […] It comes after he was criticized for abandoning the dead body of a young bear in New York City’s Central Park. He said he initially intended to skin the bear but decided to try to make it look like the cub had got hit by a bike in the park, adding: ‘We thought it would be amusing for whoever found it or something.’ At the time, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said it was against the law to dispose of a dead bear the way RFK Jr said he did. He could have faced a fine but the statute of limitations for such offenses was a year, it added.”

The Daily Beast: RFK Jr. Cries ‘Witch Hunt’ Over Whale Carcass Federal Probe

Key Excerpt: “In August, the political arm of the Center for Biological Diversity, a left-leaning environmental organization, asked federal authorities to look into Kick Kennedy’s decade-old story, accusing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. ‘There are good reasons why it is illegal for any person to collect or keep parts of any endangered species,’ Brett Hartl, the national political director of the organization, wrote in a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. ‘Most importantly, vital research opportunities are lost when individuals scavenge a wildlife carcass and interfere with the work of scientists. This is particularly true of marine mammals, which are some of the most difficult wildlife species in the world to study.’”
The Hill: RFK Jr. confirms he is under investigation over whale specimen collection