Democratic 2024 presidential candidate and staunch intelligence community critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has paid his daughter-in-law, a former CIA officer, tens of thousands of dollars in campaign cash, records show.
Kennedy Jr., who in a recent interview with Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe took aim at agencies like the FBI for their content moderation efforts alongside social media platforms, has said he would have to be "careful" the CIA didn't assassinate him if he were elected president. Still, the White House hopeful's sharp critiques of the CIA haven't stopped Kennedy's 2024 campaign from dishing out a salary of $21,262 in June to his son Bobby Kennedy III's wife, Amaryllis Kennedy, who until 2010 in the CIA reportedly worked on thwarting terror groups from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, according to financial disclosures.
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"I gotta be careful," Kennedy Jr. told comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan in June, alleging that the CIA had some kind of involvement in the murder of the late President John F. Kennedy, his uncle. "I’m aware of that, you know, I’m aware of that danger. I don’t live in fear of it at all.
"The CIA’s murder of my uncle was a successful coup d'état from which our democracy has never recovered," the presidential candidate posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in December 2022.
Kennedy, who is polling at an average of 13.2% to President Joe Biden's 64% support level in the 2024 Democratic primary, has earmarked the campaign payments to his daughter-in-law for "administrative" services, disclosures show. She notably published a 2019 memoir titled Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA, which described how the ex-spy posed as an international art dealer in Shanghai and sought to gain information access to Europe and Middle East-based nuclear weapons procurement networks.
"At twenty-one, she was recruited by the CIA," a description from Barnes and Noble for the memoir states. "Her first assignment was reading and analyzing hundreds of classified cables a day from foreign governments and synthesizing them into daily briefs for the president. Her next assignment was at the Iraq desk in the Counterterrorism Center. At twenty-two, she was fast-tracked into advanced operations training, sent from Langley to 'the Farm,' where she lived for six months in a simulated world learning how to use a Glock, how to get out of flexicuffs while locked in the trunk of a car, how to withstand torture, and the best ways to commit suicide in case of captivity."
Meanwhile, Kennedy has continued to slam the CIA and intelligence agencies following revelations in the "Twitter Files," sets of documents released by X's Elon Musk that show how the platform was in close contact with the United States government under ex-CEO Jack Dorsey on alleged "censorship" operations against conservatives and COVID-19 vaccine skeptics — including the 2024 candidate.
Biden's White House in 2021, for instance, seemingly asked Twitter to remove a Kennedy post insinuating that MLB legend Hank Aaron's death was due to him getting Moderna's coronavirus vaccine, according to emails released by Republicans. Kennedy testified in July before the House Judiciary Committee's select subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government and the influence of Big Tech, and apparent attacks on free speech due to efforts by the government and private companies to thwart "disinformation" and "misinformation."
Team Kennedy and the Democratic National Committee did not reply to requests for comment.
The funny thing about RFK's claim here is that his daughter-in-law is former CIA officer Amaryllis Fox Kennedy. She's also the highest salaried employee on his campaign. https://t.co/kYSueVfxXi pic.twitter.com/qX7Z4kOjxj
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) August 23, 2023
Kennedy isn't alone among Democratic challengers to Biden. Spiritual activist and author Marianne Williamson, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020, has also mounted a bid and is polling at an average of 6.2%, according to RealClearPolitics.
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The first 2024 Republican primary debate is on Wednesday evening, which will see the likes of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and ex-United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley take the stage. Former President Donald Trump will not be in attendance and a prerecorded interview he gave to the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson will air at 9:00 p.m.
The Biden campaign did not return a request for comment.