Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Friday said he is "disturbed" by "the weaponization of government against" former President Donald Trump.
He also vowed that if elected president, he would appoint a special counsel to investigate whether "prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends" in cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Kennedy on Friday issued a statement in an effort to "clarify his views on the events of January 6, 2021."
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"January 6 is one of the most polarizing topics on the political landscape. I am listening to people of diverse viewpoints on it in order to make sense of the event and what followed. I want to hear every side," Kennedy said, adding that it is "quite clear that many of the January 6 protesters broke the law in what may have started as a protest but turned into a riot."
"Because it happened with the encouragement of President Trump, and in the context of his delusion that the election was stolen from him, many people see it not as a riot but as an insurrection," he said.
But Kennedy said that "reasonable people, including Trump opponents, tell me there is little evidence of a true insurrection."
"They observe that the protesters carried no weapons, had no plans or ability to seize the reins of government, and that Trump himself had urged them to protest ‘peacefully,’" Kennedy said.
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"Like many reasonable Americans, I am concerned about the possibility that political objectives motivated the vigor of the prosecution of the J6 defendants, their long sentences, and their harsh treatment," he continued. "That would fit a disturbing pattern of the weaponization of government agencies — the DoJ, the IRS, the SEC, the FBI, etc. — against political opponents."
Kennedy said that though he opposes Trump "and all he stands for," he is still "disturbed by the weaponization of government against him."
"As President, I will appoint a special counsel — an individual respected by all sides — to investigate whether prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends in this case, and I will right any wrongs that we discover," Kennedy said. "Without the impartial rule of law, there is no true democracy or moral governance."
Kennedy said that Jan. 6 is being used by both parties to "pour fuel on the fire of America’s divisions," saying that Republicans and Democrats claim that in 2024 "a victory by their opponents means the end of democracy."
Biden has used Jan. 6 during campaign speeches and even his State of the Union address to illustrate why Trump should not be elected president again.
"Instead of demonizing our opponents as apocalyptic threats to democracy, let’s focus on the issues and priorities of how they will govern, and defeat them at the ballot box rather than through legal maneuvers and dirty tricks," Kennedy said.
Kennedy went on to blast both Trump and Biden for presiding as president during "the continued worsening of our national debt, chronic disease epidemic, government corruption, erosion of civil liberties, and foreign military entanglements."
"Maybe it is because the establishment parties differ very little on these key issues that they campaign on the demonization of their opponents and all who support them instead," he said.
Special Counsel Jack Smith has charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. Those charges stemmed from Smith’s investigation into whether Trump was involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and any alleged interference in the 2020 election result.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on April 25 on the issue of presidential immunity, and whether Trump is immune from prosecution in Smith's case.
More than 1,350 people have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the Justice Department.
