Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. assailed both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump‘s records while speaking at the Libertarian National Convention on Friday afternoon.
Opening his speech lambasting the restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic under Trump, Kennedy said the former president “presided over the greatest restriction on individual liberties this country has ever known.”
“He didn’t stand up for the Constitution when it really mattered,” Kennedy said.
In a moment of levity, Kennedy joked about his “brain worm,” referencing a 2012 deposition uncovered by the New York Times in which Kennedy said a doctor ascribed his memory lapses to a parasite eating part of his brain and then dying.
“Maybe a brain worm ate that part of my memory, but I don’t recall any part of the United States Constitution where there’s an exemption for pandemics,” Kennedy said of the restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 health emergency.
Kennedy drew applause from the crowd multiple times throughout his speech, which he centered on perceived violations of the Constitution seen under the Trump and Biden administrations.
“The Constitution isn’t just a legal document, it’s also an inspirational document, and that’s why if you treasure your freedom, you better elect leaders who are inspired by it and who will wield it to inspire others,” Kennedy said.
“I’m sorry to say neither President Trump nor President Biden pass this critical examination,” Kennedy added. “Neither of them upheld the Constitution when it really counted.”
The nephew of former President John F. Kennedy said the “assault on the Constitution intensified” under Biden, referring to vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic that were a “violation of bodily autonomy.”
“That’s what happened during the pandemic: A program of coercion and information chaos and information control that prevented the public from making fully informed choices,” Kennedy said. “But that wasn’t the worst of it. He put the power of his office behind the assault of the one freedom upon which all other freedoms rely — the freedom of the press.”
Kennedy spoke of his lawsuit that alleges that the Biden administration violated the First Amendment by urging social media companies to censor others’ protected speech.
“At 37 hours after he took the oath of office, President Biden was colluding with the FBI to coerce the social media sites — Google Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram — to open portals to allow the federal agencies to censor political speech of Americans,” he said.
Kennedy said he would drop all charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and pardon National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden if he won the presidency. Both are heroes, Kennedy said, and deserve monuments erected to them in Washington.
Fears that Kennedy’s campaign will act as a spoiler in the November presidential election have continued to grow as it draws closer.
While Trump leads Biden by 1 percentage point according to a RealClearPolitics average, when Kennedy enters the race, the margin grows in the former president’s favor, and he leads Biden by 5 points.
Kennedy challenged Biden to sign a “no-spoiler” pledge earlier this month, in which both candidates would agree to finance a poll, and whoever performs the weakest in a head-to-head matchup against Trump would drop out of the race.
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According to his campaign, Kennedy has gained access to the ballot in seven states and is working to get on the ballot in eight others. The Reform Party nominated Kennedy on Thursday night, granting him access to Florida’s ballot.
“He has more energy than Joe Biden and more maturity than Donald Trump,” Reform Party Convention Secretary Richard Kasa said in a statement. “The Reform Party aligns with him better on the issues than we do with the establishment politicians. We are sure that he will be the next President of the United States.”
Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.
