After ending his independent presidential run and joining forces with former President Donald Trump, Robert F Kennedy Jr. spoke with TMZ News on Tuesday regarding some recent events involving his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, and defended her from attacks by fellow actor Bradley Whitford, who berated her online for supporting her husband in his endorsement of the GOP candidate.
Kennedy’s presidential bid has been beset with challenges from the start, as he struggled to get his name on the ballot in all 50 states. Teams had gathered the required signatures from voters nationwide, but a lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy and widespread perceptions that he would be a party pooper in November led him to suspend his campaign on Friday, shortly after the Democratic National Convention closed. Kennedy was quick to endorse Trump, and Whitford was quick to chide Hines for remaining silent while all this unfolded.
“Hey @CherylHines, how can you stay silent while your lunatic husband supports a convicted rapist who brags about depriving women of their basic rights,” Whitford wrote in a post on X, previously on Twitter.
Talking to TMZ News Kennedy called Whitford's language a “model for bullying” by phone Wednesday after noting that Hines is not a supporter of Trump or his third presidential bid.
“I had to fight back some strong feelings about it,” Kennedy said. “You know, it's a model for bullying. Here's a guy, instead of challenging me, he's attacking my wife. Who would do that? What kind of person, what kind of man would do that? Why wouldn't he talk to me directly?”
Hines, she said, attended a meeting between Trump and Kennedy shortly after the former president was shot at a Pennsylvania rally in June. Kennedy's wife, known to many for playing a fictionalized version of herself for 12 seasons of Curb your enthusiasmHe had encouraged the meeting with Trump out of sympathy, not as a supporter.
“He urged me to do it, and he did it out of compassion. It was an emotional night for our country. It was an emotional night for everyone, and he made the right choice,” she said.
“She's a lifelong Democrat, and the idea that I'm endorsing Donald Trump for president is something that she never imagined, that she never wanted in her life. I think that's causing her a lot of discomfort,” he added. “And, you know, I'm very grateful.”
Kennedy was also asked to address statements he had previously made about Trump before he came into his good graces last week. The political heir, whose father was assassinated by Sen. Robert Kennedy, said Trump was “a threat to democracy, a bully, who appealed to bigotry, hatred, xenophobia and prejudice”; Kennedy was also reminded that he had said Trump “was a terrible president.”
Faced with his past remarks, Kennedy pointed out, saying TMZ News who in a 45-minute speech he gave earlier, declared his evolution towards Trump's ideas and policies.
“That evolution is not something I can summarize or sum up in a minute,” Kennedy added.
So far, Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump doesn’t appear to have dented his poll numbers. According to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll conducted August 22-26, Vice President Kamala Harris (46 percent) is narrowly ahead of Trump (45 percent) among registered voters in a matchup that includes the remaining third-party candidates.