RFK Jr’s environmental colleagues beg him to drop presidential campaign after Kennedy family endorses Biden

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s former environmental colleagues, along with several national organisations, have called for him to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.

The independent candidate’s former coworkers at the Natural Resources Defense Council, along with eleven other environmental groups, signed an open letter calling for Americans to “reject” him and “the toxic beliefs he promotes before it’s too late.” The scathing letter, published on Friday just ahead of Earth Day, calls RFK Jr a “dangerous conspiracy theorist” and “science denier.”

“Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is not an environmentalist,” the letter reads. “He is a dangerous conspiracy theorist and science denier whose agenda would be a disaster for our communities and the planet.”

The National Resources Defense Council Action Fund is also funding political advertisements in swing states against the nephew of assassinated president John F Kennedy.

“In nothing more than a vanity candidacy, RFK Jr. has chosen to play the role of election spoiler to the benefit of Donald Trump – the single worst environmental president our country has ever had,” one advertisement reads.

An environmental lawyer, RFK Jr has also advocated against vaccines. He infamously claimed that imposing vaccine passports was similar to the extermination policies of Nazi Germany in a speech at an anti-vaccine protest march in Washington DC in January 2022.

He later apologised for these comments.

The letter comes a day after at least 15 members Mr Kennedy’s family officially endorsed President Joe Biden in what may be their biggest snub to the candidate yet.

Kerry Kennedy, sister to RFK Jr, said a vote for Mr Biden would be “a vote for our democracy and our decency”.

“In 2024, there are only two candidates with any chance of winning the presidency,” she said on Thursday. “We want to make crystal clear our feeling that the best way forward for America is to reelect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to four more years.”

The family’s formal endorsement of the president polling between Mr Biden and Mr Trump tightens. Some Democrats have warned RFK Jr’s presence in the race could split the vote, making a second term for Mr Biden more difficult to secure.

More to come…