Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign manager said Wednesday that New York campaign staffer Rita Palma was fired after she told GOP voters at a meeting last week that preventing victory Joe Biden’s office was his “number one priority” and encouraged them to volunteer for former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.
“We terminated her contract for misrepresentation immediately after seeing the longer video in which she gave an inaccurate job title and described a conversation that did not take place,” said Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, campaign manager and belle -daughter of Kennedy, in a press release. post on Wednesday evening.
Palma confirmed to CNN on Wednesday that she was no longer employed by the campaign. She told CNN she thought Kennedy was “still the better candidate by far” and called the focus on her comments a “distraction.”
“I managed the campaign with honesty,” Palma said. “I have nothing to defend. The truth defends itself.
“My time on Team Kennedy was one of the best political adventures of my life, filled with some of the best people I have met, and I have met a lot of them. I have no ill will and look forward to the next seven months of watching Bobby shine,” she added.
CNN reported that Palma urged voters at the meeting to help collect signatures for Kennedy, vote for Kennedy in New York and travel to Pennsylvania to volunteer for Trump in pursuit of his goal of “stopping Biden to win the presidency. Palma identified herself as the Kennedy campaign director for New York state during the meeting and in March 20 social media posts, and she said the political strategy she presented at the meeting had been approved by the campaign.
The Kennedy campaign downplayed Palma’s role, calling her a “ballot access consultant” in a statement to CNN.
The Biden campaign has argued that Kennedy’s campaign is a spoiler that will ultimately benefit Trump in the November election.
While Democrats and Biden allies have organized aggressively to fight Kennedy, the Trump campaign has so far largely ignored the campaign of independents. Trump himself praised Kennedy’s candidacy, saying in a social media post last month, “I love that he’s running,” while calling him “the most radical left-wing candidate in the race.” .
The Kennedy campaign views gaining ballot access in New York as one of the most critical and difficult steps on the path to qualifying for balloting in all 50 states and Washington, DC. A Kennedy campaign spokesperson previously told CNN that the campaign had designated New York as a priority for ballot access, with organizers working in all 62 counties in the state. The campaign will need to gather 45,000 valid signatures over a six-week period between April 16 and May 28.
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