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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. disavows an email that spoke sympathetically of Jan. 6 protesters.
The fundraising message — sent on Thursday and titled “We Must Free Assange!” — made a passing comment in support of those sentenced for participation in the riot at the Capitol.
“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,” the fundraising email read. “Please help our campaign call out the illiberal actions of our very own government.”
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks during a campaign event in Philadelphia.
RFK’s campaign quickly blamed the message on a third-party vendor and said the email is not in line with Kennedy’s views.
“That statement was an error that does not reflect Mr. Kennedy’s views,” said Kennedy spokesperson Stefanie Spear. “It was inserted by a new marketing contractor and slipped through the normal approval process.”
She added, “The campaign has terminated its contract with this vendor.”
RFK JR. REAFFIRMS HE WOULD PARDON EDWARD SNOWDEN ON FIRST DAY OF HIS PRESIDENCY
Trump supporters occupy the West Front of the Capitol and the inauguration stands on Jan. 6, 2021. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The Kennedy campaign did not clarify which company was responsible for the email.
The treatment of whistleblowers Julian Assange and Edward Snowden has become a regular talking point for Kennedy after releasing a video petition this week.
Kennedy released the petition Monday, calling on President Biden to pardon Snowden, who in 2013 famously visited Hong Kong and exposed classified NSA documents that revealed the U.S. government was spying on its citizens. He was then charged with espionage and theft of government property.
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Julian Assange’s lawyers are on their final U.K. legal challenge to stop the WikiLeaks founder from being sent to the United States to face spying charges. (AP)
“Snowden performed a critical public service by revealing to Americans for the first time that our government had been spying on us, millions of law-abiding American citizens, in violation of numerous laws and of our fundamental right to privacy,” Kennedy said in a video attached to the petition.
The presidential hopeful has previously said he would pardon Snowden and Assange, an Australian publisher held in a maximum security London prison and fighting extradition to the U.S. on espionage charges for publishing classified military documents in 2010.
“It’s time that we return our government to the democratic and humanitarian ideals that we’ve always represented as a nation,” Kennedy Jr. said. “Let’s go back to championing free speech and celebrating truth-tellers and the whistleblowers who put their careers and their own freedom on the line to protect ours.”
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
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