Unbiased US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr on Tuesday has described a Self-importance Truthful story as “a variety of rubbish,” responding to a number of allegations together with that he sexually assaulted a former household babysitter.
Vanity Fair reported that within the late Nineteen Nineties, Mr Kennedy groped Eliza Cooney, a latest faculty graduate who had been employed as a part-time babysitter for his kids and to help him along with his environmental legislation work. She was 23 years outdated on the time.
When requested about particularly about this allegation and the others in query on the Breaking Points podcast, Mr Kennedy mentioned, “I’m not a church boy”.
“I had a really, very rambunctious youth,” he mentioned. “I mentioned in my announcement speech that I’ve so many skeletons in my closet that if they may all vote, I might run for king of the world.”
When pressed by podcast host Saagar Enjeti additional on the sexual assault declare, Mr Kennedy mentioned he had no remark.
The journal additionally reported he had a number of extramarital affairs and vigorously defended a cousin, Michael Skakel, who was convicted of murdering a 15-year-old woman in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Mr Kennedy’s marketing campaign pointed reporters to a put up on X the place he accused the journal of being in league with Democratic Celebration management.
Whereas discussing the article on the podcast, Mr Kennedy targeted on a separate allegation within the story – that he posed with a barbecued canine whereas on a visit to Korea, and later joked about it in a message to a pal.
Mr Kennedy mentioned the picture was taken not in Korea however within the Patagonia area in South America, and that the animal pictured was a goat.
Self-importance Truthful reporter Joe Hagen, who beforehand wrote a profile of Mr Kennedy for the journal, mentioned the picture was proof of Mr Kennedy “concurrently mocking Korean tradition, reveling in animal cruelty, and needlessly risking his fame and that of his household.”
The story additionally outlined Mr Kennedy’s alleged affairs and included particulars of drug dependancy in his youth, which the candidate has been open about on the path.
On the identical podcast, Mr Kennedy – the son of Robert F Kennedy and nephew of President John F Kennedy – mentioned that though he was dedicated to working for president as an impartial, “the perfect path for me to the White Home is thru the Democratic Celebration.”
“I believe that might in all probability be the only option for everyone and it’s actually one thing I’d take into account,” if President Biden have been to step apart, he mentioned.
The BBC has contacted Self-importance Truthful for remark.