RFK Jr. edges ahead in favorability against Biden, Trump: Americans want the truth
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined 'Fox & Friends' to discuss the most important issues to him ahead of November and the current state of the race as he faces criticism from both Biden and Trump.
Multiple mainstream media outlets rushed to "fact-check" Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. after he shared his opinion that President Biden is a "much worse" threat to democracy than former President Trump.
Kennedy was bludgeoned for his comment, including by The Washington Post’s Philip Bump and CNN’s Daniel Dale, both of whom accused the presidential candidate of spreading "misinformation" and implicating Biden in actions taken by his administration that he wasn’t explicitly involved in.
Other prominent pundits, like the co-hosts of ABC’s "The View" and CNN host Dana Bash, ripped Kennedy Jr. for the claim as well.
RFK JR SAYS HE MEETS BALLOT THRESHOLD IN ANOTHER KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE
Media figures trashed Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for recently saying that President Biden is "much worse" for democracy than former President Trump. (John Nacion/Getty Images)
"I can make the argument that President Biden is a much worse threat to democracy. And the reason for that is, President Biden is the first candidate in history, the first president in history that has used the federal agencies to censor political speech or censor his opponent," Kennedy told CNN host Erin Burnett on Monday. "
"The greatest threat to democracy is not somebody who questions election returns but a President of the United States who will use the power of his office to force the social media companies Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, to open a portal and give access to that portal to the FBI, CIA, the IRS, the NIH, to censor his political critics," he added.
He also accused Biden of "weaponizing" the U.S. Secret Service against him by denying him protection.
Kennedy did admit to the CNN host that Trump’s behavior in "trying to overthrow" the 2020 election is a "threat to democracy," but maintained that Biden’s behavior has been worse.
Shortly after Kennedy's appearance on Burnett's show, CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale was brought on to fact-check Kennedy's comments.
"First of all, there is no evidence that President Biden has been at all personally involved in decisions about who should and should not get Secret Service protection," Dale said.
LIBERTARIAN PARTY CHAIR SAYS RFK JR. NOMINATION COULD BE ‘MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL’
President Biden and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (Fox News/Getty Images)
He continued, "Secondly, I think it’s important to note that there are federal criteria for who gets said protection, including such things as being the nominee of a major party, which Mr. Kennedy is not, being at 15% or higher consistently for a month in the Real Clear Politics polling average, which Mr. Kennedy currently is not."
Dale added how the secretary of Homeland Security "can decide to offer" protection but hasn’t.
He then went after the censorship claims, stating, "We know there is a controversy about a White House communications with social media companies about what posts and accounts should remain up or not. There is no evidence that Biden has been involved whatsoever."
Washington Post columnist Philip Bump went after Kennedy in an analysis piece titled, "Misinformation-spouting RFK Jr. muses that Biden is threat to democracy."
"Everything Kennedy said in the quotes above is false or misleading," Bump wrote, referencing the candidate’s saying Biden is "much worse" than Trump.
Bump said Kennedy's claims of censorship weren't true because, while the Biden White House emailed X, formerly known as Twitter, "WONDERING IF WE CAN GET MOVING ON THE PROCESS FOR HAVING IT REMOVED ASAP," for one of Kennedy's tweets, it was not ultimately taken down.
Joy Behar slams RFK Jr. during "The View," says he's a major threat to President Biden because he's a Kennedy. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
On Tuesday, CNN anchor Dana Bash gave what she called an "important fact-check" to his claims.
"Now, let‘s just be very clear. This is an important fact check. Joe Biden wasn‘t setting out to censor Kennedy‘s speech or his political critics. His administration was encouraging social media sites to monitor and take down false information about the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s no evidence that Biden himself was involved," she said.
The hosts of ABC’s "The View" trashed Kennedy’s claims on Tuesday and deemed him a "threat" to Biden's re-election campaign.
"Meanwhile, he is a conspiracy theorist, anti-science. His whole family is voting for Biden and this type of dangerous rhetoric that Biden is a bigger threat to democracy than the man who wanted to throw over the government, overthrow the government," co-host Joy Behar said.
Co-host Sara Haines agreed, adding that Kennedy Jr. was "wrong in what he was saying," and noting, "President Biden is not responsible for private social media companies. The First Amendment is for the government, it does not apply, necessarily, to private companies who decide to ban you."
Behar followed up by calling the Independent candidate a "liar."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Kennedy doubled down on his views during an interview with "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday.
"If you have a president who can censor his political opponents, he has the license for any kind of atrocity, that is a genuine threat to our democracy," he said. "What Trump said about… questioning the election and… to the extent that he engaged… in an effort to overthrow that, of course, that's a threat to democracy, but it is not the worst threat undermining the First Amendment of our Constitution and then weaponizing the federal agencies, to get his opponents off the ballot."
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion and Bailee Hill contributed to this report.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox