RFK Jr addresses explosive claims he sexually assaulted a baby sitter saying 'I am who I am' after denying he ever ate dog
- The claims were made in a Vanity Fair article looking at his 'reckless' behavior
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said 'I am who I am' and admitted that he is 'not a church boy' when addressing explosive allegations that he sexually assaulted a former family babysitter.
The claim was one of many made in a Vanity Fair article that took a deep dive into Kennedy's long history of 'reckless' behavior - chronicling his drug use, allegations of sexual assault and even claims he ate a dog - which he has denied.
The magazine stated that in 1998 Kennedy and his then-wife Mary Richardson hired a 23-year-old woman, Eliza Cooney, as their part-time babysitter.
Ms Cooney reportedly told the magazine that Kennedy groped her in the family kitchen.
Kennedy has since said the article contains 'a lot of garbage', but when pressed by a podcast interviewer whether he denied the sexual assault allegation, he said: 'I'm not going to comment on it.'
Robert F Kennedy Jr told the Breaking Points podcast on Tuesday, 'I am not a church boy'
Vanity Fair published a story Tuesday that claimed independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent out a picture to a friend that showed him pretending to gobble down a barbecued dog in Korea. Kennedy said it was a goat in Patagonia
On Tuesday afternoon, RFK Jr. pushed back at claims that he ate dog meat, saying the story was meant to 'distract us from President Biden's cognitive deficits'
Kennedy told the Breaking Points podcast on Tuesday, 'I am not a church boy.
'I had a very, very rambunctious youth,' he told podcaster Saagar Enjeti. 'I said in my announcement speech that I have so many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote, I could run for king of the world.'
He additionally said the magazine was 'recycling 30-year-old stories,' and insisted: 'I'm not going to comment on the details of any of them, but it's — you know, I am who I am.'
Vanity Fair also shared a photo of Kennedy and a friend holding up a barbecued animal carcass which they are pretending to munch on.
It said that Kennedy had texted the photo in question to a friend last year - recommending his pal try a restaurant in South Korea that serves dog meat.
The magazine said a veterinarian identified the animal as a dog, as the animal had a telltale 'floating rib' found in canines.
The friend who received the picture thought it was 'disturbing evidence of Kennedy's poor judgment and thoughtlessness, simultaneously mocking Korean culture, reveling in animal cruelty, and needlessly risking his reputation and that of his family,' according to Vanity Fair.
Metadata from the photograph reportedly showed it was taken in 2010 - the same year that Kennedy contracted a brain worm. He has since fully recovered, his campaign has said.
Robert F Kennedy Jr is pictured as a boy with his uncle John F Kennedy. He is running as an independent candidate in the presidential race
Kennedy denied that the picture showed him posing with the barbecued carcass of a canine, claiming it was the carcass of a goat and that the picture was taken in Patagonia.
'Hey @VanityFair,' Kennedy wrote on social media platform X, 'you know when your veterinary experts call a goat a dog, and your forensic experts say a photo taken in Patagonia was taken in Korea, that you've joined the ranks of supermarket tabloids.'
He gave the same explanation during a Tuesday afternoon appearance on Fox News.
'Keep telling America that up is down if you want. I'll keep talking about the fact that working families can't afford houses or groceries because our last two presidents went on a $14 trillion debt joyride, paid for by hard-working Americans,' the independent said.
'The DNC media's garbage pail journalism may distract us from President Biden's cognitive deficits but it does little to elevate the national debate or reduce the price of groceries,' he added.
Vanity Fair's story suggests that Kennedy could have contracted the brain parasite in 2010 from the 'dog.'
The candidate has said that he believed he contracted the tapeworm from food he ate - though it's unclear where he had that meal.
At one point Kennedy suggested he contracted the parasite in India, while the campaign more vaguely pointed to his widespread travel in 'Africa, South America, and Asia.'
In a divorce filing from his late ex-wife Mary Richardson, Kennedy said the tapeworm ate a portion of his brain leading to a 'brain fog,' which diminished his earning potential.
Family members interviewed by Vanity Fair were skeptical of this explanation.
They pointed to the 14 years RFK Jr. was a heroin user - from the age of 15 to 29, when he quit.
'One Kennedy has circulated a report from the National Institutes of Health on the impact of long-term heroin abuse, which surmises that the damage can alter the physiology of the brain, 'creating long-term imbalances in neuronal and hormonal systems that are not easily reversed' and 'which may affect decision-making abilities, the ability to regulate behavior, and responses to stressful situations,'' the magazine's Joe Hagan wrote.
Kennedy, who is running in the November 5 presidential election against Democratic incumbent Joe Biden and Republican contender Donald Trump, has been called a potential election 'spoiler' by standing to take votes away from both major-party candidates.
However he has not qualified on enough state ballots to win the 270 electoral votes needed for victory and was barred from a CNN televised debate last week because of this.
Robert F Kennedy Jr was contacted for comment. Cooney was not reachable for comment.