Why it matters: Kennedy’s long-shot independent campaign so far appears to be hurting President Biden more than Trump in polls, but Kennedy’s latest moves could flip that equation.
- Kennedy is now drawing fire from Trump and other conservatives who once hailed Kennedy’s campaign.
Zoom in: Last week, Kennedy said he’d appoint a special counsel to investigate the prosecutions of the convicted Capitol rioters who tried to overturn the 2020 election results and give Trump a second term.
Kennedy also falsely said last week that the rioters “carried no weapons,” before acknowledging he had been “incorrect” and that “several have been convicted of carrying firearms into the Capitol.”
- In a campaign email last week that Kennedy later disavowed, the campaign described the rioters as “activists sitting in a Washington, D.C., jail cell stripped of their constitutional liberties.”
Between the lines: Kennedy was drawing support among some Republicans even before his recent efforts.