RFK Jr. says he's being investigated for gathering whale specimen

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Former unbiased presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. mentioned Saturday he’s being investigated for gathering a whale specimen.

“I acquired a letter from the Nationwide Marine Fisheries Institute saying that they have been investigating me for gathering a whale specimen 20 years in the past,” Kennedy mentioned throughout a marketing campaign occasion for former President Donald Trump in Glendale, Arizona, noting that he acquired the letter “this week.”

Kennedy mentioned that he responded in a letter, baselessly linking the Nationwide Marine Fisheries Service with whale deaths and calling for the company to analyze.

“That is all in regards to the weaponization of our authorities towards political opponents,” he mentioned.

Kennedy didn’t go into particulars in regards to the whale incident, however his daughter had beforehand described a state of affairs involving a whale that came about 30 years in the past.

His daughter Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, 36, described in a 2012 article for Town & Country magazine how, when she was 6, her father used a chainsaw to chop the pinnacle off a lifeless whale that had washed ashore and bungee-corded it to the household’s automobile throughout their drive house.

“Each time we accelerated on the freeway, whale juice would pour into the home windows of the automobile, and it was the rankest factor on the planet,” she advised the journal on the time. “All of us had plastic luggage over our heads with mouth holes lower out, and folks on the freeway have been giving us the finger, however that was simply regular day-to-day stuff for us.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s feedback got here throughout a marketing campaign occasion alongside former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for Trump at Arizona Christian College. Kennedy endorsed Trump in August and has since been on the marketing campaign path urging supporters to again the previous president.

Kennedy advised NBC Information after this system that he has by no means killed a whale.

The Nationwide Marine Fisheries Service, which is a part of the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark and affirmation Saturday evening.

When requested by a reporter after the marketing campaign occasion for particulars in regards to the investigation, Kennedy mentioned he was “not going to speak” in regards to the incident, however would discuss “severe coverage points.” He criticized the media as wanting to debate “gossipy nonsense,” including, “I’m not excited about feeding that characteristic of mainstream media.”

After the 2012 story resurfaced final month, an environmental group urged federal officers to analyze the incident.

“Kennedy might imagine that his title and privilege imply the foundations don’t apply to him, but when he had a shred of integrity left he’d give up this whale cranium and some other illegally collected wildlife components to the authorities,” mentioned Brett Hartl, political director for the Middle for Organic Range Motion Fund, in a news release. “If he doesn’t, NOAA legislation enforcement ought to open an investigation and doubtlessly carry fees towards him.”

Kennedy beforehand faced blowback for saying in August that he had as soon as put a younger lifeless bear in Central Park after planning to pores and skin the bear for meat. He described in a video in the end deciding to attempt to make it appear like the cub acquired hit by a motorcycle within the park, saying, “We thought it could be amusing for whoever discovered it.”

The New York State Division of Environmental Conservation mentioned on the time it’s against the law to dispose of a dead bear in the best way Kennedy mentioned he did. The statute of limitations for such offenses, that are topic to a fantastic, is a 12 months, it mentioned. 

Alex Tabet reported from Glendale, Arizona, and Megan Lebowitz from Washington, D.C.