I have to give AP reader Jim Marlowe credit for pointing out the likely reason Trump has yet to announce a specific cabinet post for RFK Jr., although one appears to be in the cards: they would be targeted via lawfare by the Democrats and their Deep State clients.
Given that trading endorsements (and often straight-up cash as campaign donations) for cabinet posts, ambassadorships, etc. is standard operating procedure in The Swamp, I didn’t think they could sink so low in their double standards (and expose themselves to future retaliation for the same thing) as to bring these charges forward — under statutes never once used in American history, at that.
But I should have expected it, because they have no shame and the RFK Jr.-Trump alignment scares the hell out of them.
Via Newsweek (emphasis added):
“Former President Donald Trump has been accused of a new federal crime by social media users who claim that he promised former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a position in his administration for his endorsement if he’s reelected to the White House…
Trump has not been charged with any new crimes and neither he nor Kennedy Jr. has admitted to this alleged quid pro quo exchange. Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign and Kennedy Jr.’s former campaign via email for comment on Saturday afternoon…
Kennedy Jr.’s campaign officials told the Post in an August 14 report that he sought a meeting with Harris the week before to discuss a possible role in her administration if he supported her. The report said that the vice president did not show any interest in meeting with Kennedy Jr., according to people familiar with the matter.
When he announced that he would drop out and endorse Trump, Kennedy Jr. said that the former president had “asked to enlist me in his administration,” but did not specify what role he may be given.”
The Lincoln Project — which, as far as I know, still insists it’s a noble and principled Republican organization and not a Deep State cutout grift whose leader infamously sexually harassed underage boys online — has written a letter to Merrick Garland, Attorney General, demanding an investigation tout de suite.
Via The Lincoln Project (emphasis added):
“RFK Jr has confirmed that he not only spoke with Trump on July 13, 2024, but met with Trump the following day in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
After his first discussion with Trump, RFK Jr attempted to speak with Harris as well. It is currently not publicly known how RFK Jr attempted to contact Harris, whether he did so himself personally or through campaign staff, and with whom in Harris’ campaign those attempts were made. Similarly, it is not publicly known what specific ask or request RFK Jr attempted to relay to Harris.
The only fact confirmed by RFK Jr in public is that Harris never spoke with him. As RFK Jr said, “Vice President Harris declined to meet or even speak with me.”
After being rebuffed by Harris, RFK Jr engaged in subsequent discussions with Trump and his staff, including a trip to Florida several weeks later.
Contemporaneous allegations, unconfirmed but investigatable, suggest that at some point Trump offered RFK Jr a public office in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), up to and including the position of Secretary of HHS, in exchange for RFK Jr’s endorsement of Trump in the 2024 presidential election. For example, RFK Jr’s own family member recently wrote in the Washington Post, “… my cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., endorsed Donal [sic] Trump, reportedly in exchange for a Cabinet-level position overseeing efforts in the health arena.””
The legal statute pertaining to this alleged violation of federal law is 18 U.S. Code § 599.
Via Legal Information Institute (emphasis added):
“Whoever, being a candidate, directly or indirectly promises or pledges the appointment, or the use of his influence or support for the appointment of any person to any public or private position or employment, for the purpose of procuring support in his candidacy shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”
This is, in my view, a silly law that violates the First Amendment on its face. Influence-peddling and coalition-building have been integral aspects of politics since politics were a thing — Machiavelli wrote the book on it thousands of years ago — and arguably necessarily so to bring factions with divergent interests together into a functional governing force.
But beyond the merits of the law, the problem here is the double standard and inconsistency in the equal application of the law.
Hillary Clinton, as just one example, got herself appointed Secretary of State in Obama’s administration after her bitter primary fight (she, not Trump, being the originator of the Obama birth certificate scandal, a little-known fact lost to history). There is no way Obama would have voluntarily done that after their vicious war — the Clintons reportedly refused to call Obama by name throughout the duration of his term, instead calling him “that man” — if Clinton hadn’t brought her influence and resources to bear to get him into office in exchange.
Pete Buttigieg, the feckless homosexual diversity mascot with no national-level political experience who previously ran South Bend into the ground as mayor, got himself appointed Transportation Secretary despite no experience in the sector after Obama orchestrated a coordinated drop-out in the 2020 primary to steal the nomination from Bernie Sanders (again).
The list of appointments for endorsements goes on.
Curiously, though, none of these other figures was ever pursued for public corruption under Section 599.
Lincoln Project acknowledges this fact but justifies their hypocrisy by claiming Trump is a unique brand of evil:
“To our knowledge, the DOJ has never prosecuted a violation of Section 559 and prosecution under Section 600 is also rare. But America has also never had a felon indicted and convicted for interfering with an election run for president before, either. Under the circumstances listed above, an investigation is more than warranted.”
Ben Bartee is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.
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