RFK Jr. vows to appoint special counsel to examine Jan. 6 prosecutions
"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," he said.
One day after disavowing a fundraising email that appeared to defend participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released a statement in which he vowed to appoint a special counsel to investigate the government's handling of the prosecution of the incident's participants.
"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," he declared. "Without the impartial rule of law, there is no true democracy or moral governance."
"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," he said. "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."
"That would fit a disturbing pattern of the weaponization of government agencies — the DoJ, the IRS, the SEC, the FBI, etc. — against political opponents," he added. "One can, as I do, oppose Donald Trump and all he stands for, and still be disturbed by the weaponization of government against him."
The statement appears to be something of an about-face after the campaign on Thursday denounced a fundraising email that referred to the "J6 activists sitting in a Washington DC jail cell stripped of their Constitutional liberties." The email highlighted the cases of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, while also mentioning Jan. 6 defendants as examples of wrongful government actions against Americans.
"That statement was an error that does not reflect Mr. Kennedy’s view. It was inserted by a new marketing contractor and slipped through the normal approval process," a campaign spokesperson said at the time. It later severed its relationship with the contractor.
Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.