RFK Jr. Campaign Distances Itself from Email Referring to Jan. 6 Defendants as ‘Activists’

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign mistakenly referred to the protesters on Jan. 6, 2021, as “activists” who have been “stripped of their Constitutional liberties,” but later admitted it was an “error.”

A Kennedy campaign email had initially described those protesting at the Capitol in a message advocating for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, as reported by The Washington Post.

The email, titled “We Must Free Assange!,” encouraged Kennedy’s supporters to sign a petition supporting Assange’s release and drew comparisons between the individuals jailed for the Jan. 6 incident and Assange and Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who leaked information about secret U.S. surveillance programs, according to the newspaper.

Snowden is currently residing in Moscow.

As per NBC News, the email from Team Kennedy stated: “This is the reality that every American Citizen faces — from Ed Snowden, to Julian Assange to the J6 activists sitting in a Washington DC jail cell stripped of their Constitutional liberties. Please help our campaign call out the illiberal actions of our very own government.”

A British court is currently deliberating on the extradition of Assange to the U.S.

However, the Kennedy campaign clarified on Thursday that the candidate did not endorse the language in the email and attributed it to an error by a contractor, who has since been dismissed.

Kennedy had previously played down the significance of the Jan. 6 protest and suggested he would consider pardoning those involved.

Kennedy’s spokesperson Stefanie Spear told NBC News that the language used was a mistake.

“That statement was an error that does not reflect Mr. Kennedy’s views. It was inserted by a new marketing contractor and slipped through the normal approval process,” she explained.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has pledged to release the individuals who were “wrongfully imprisoned” after being convicted in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021 protests at the U.S. Capitol as one of his first actions if re-elected.

“My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!” Trump declared in a post on his Truth Social account on March 11.

Trump has also labeled the defendants who have been incarcerated as “hostages,” a term that the White House has denounced as “grotesque.”