Read here the full transcript of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s speech at former president Donald Trump’s rally in Glendale, Arizona on Friday, August 23.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
DONALD TRUMP: Tonight, I’m very pleased to welcome a man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share, and we’ve shared them for a long time. I don’t think too many of you people have heard of him. He’s very low-key. He’s a very low-key person, but he’s highly respected.
He is a great person. I’ve known him for so long. For the past 16 months, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has run an extraordinary campaign for President of the United States. I know, because he also went after me a couple of times. I didn’t like it.
And I mean this sincerely. Had he been allowed to enter the Democrat primary, he would have easily beaten Joe Biden, but they wouldn’t let him in. They put up rules I’ve never seen, rules like you had to have 65 percent of the vote in order to run, you know, little things like that.
Kennedy’s Campaign and Family Legacy
His candidacy has inspired millions and millions of Americans, raised critical issues that have been too long ignored in this country, and brought together people from across the political spectrum in a positive campaign, grounded in the American values of his father, Robert Kennedy, a great man, and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy. And I know that they are looking down right now, and they are very, very proud of Bobby. I’m proud of Bobby. You want to know the truth?
And I don’t think I’ve ever introduced anyone that got applause like he just got. I must tell you. I don’t think it’s true.
I don’t think I’ve ever introduced anybody that got applause like that. Amazing. It’s true. Amazing.
Addressing Security Concerns
Soon after I was — I can’t even believe I have to say this — nearly assassinated in Pennsylvania last month, Bobby called me to express his best wishes. He knows firsthand the risks incurred by leaders who stand up to the corrupt political establishment. When you stand up, you bring on some trouble for yourself, but you have to do what’s right. You have to do what’s right for the country. I will tell you, we are both in this to do what’s right for the country. That’s one thing I can tell you.
He lost his father and uncle in service to our country, and Bobby himself was subject to repeated threats to his safety during the course of his campaign while being denied protection by the Harris-Biden administration.
Announcement of Presidential Commission
And this is a tribute in honor of Bobby. I am announcing tonight that upon my election, I will establish a new independent Presidential Commission on Assassination Attempts. They will be tasked with releasing all of the remaining documents pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. And they will also conduct a rigorous review of the attack last month. But I tell you, I have never had more people ask me, “Please, sir, release the documents on the Kennedy assassination.” And we’re going to do that.
Health and Environmental Advocacy
I also want to salute Bobby’s decades of work as an advocate for the health of our families and our children. Nobody’s done more. Millions and millions of Americans who want clean air, clean water, and a healthy nation have concerns about toxins in our environment and pesticides in our food.
That’s why today I’m repeating my pledge to establish a panel of top experts working with Bobby to investigate what is causing the decades-long increase in chronic health problems and childhood diseases, including autoimmune disorders, autism, obesity, infertility, and many more. We want every child in America to grow up and to live a long and healthy life.
Introducing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
So I just want to ask Bobby to speak for a little while. I’ll stand aside. I’m going to stand aside. But I can only tell you I’ve known him a long time. We’ve been a little bit on the opposite side of the equation, but I will say this. He is a brilliant—I still think of him as young. He’s not that young. I always call him young, but he’s not that young. But he is a phenomenal person, a phenomenal man who loves the people of this country as much as anybody can love the people of this country. So, Bobby, please say a few words.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, President Trump. Thank you.
A few hours after the assassination attempt at Butler, I got a call from a safe food advocate named Kelly Means, who’s been fighting for many years to try to end the corruption at CDC and FDA and USDA. And these institutions, these regulatory agencies, are actually run by the big food processing companies, the big ag and the chemical companies that they’re supposed to regulate.
And he said to me that he’d been advising me for many years on my campaign. And he told me that night that he was also advising President Trump. And he asked if I would talk to President Trump. And I said, of course.
And about a few minutes later, I got a call from the president. And we talked. We had a very good talk. And he invited me to come see him the next day. I went to Minneapolis and saw him. We met again a couple of weeks later in Florida. And we talked about – not about the things that separate us, because we don’t agree on everything, but on the values and the issues that bind us together.
Shared Goals and Priorities
And one of the issues that he talked about was having safe food and ending the chronic disease epidemic. Our children are now the unhealthiest, sickest children in the world. Don’t you want healthy children? And don’t you want the chemicals out of our food? And don’t you want the regulatory agencies to be free from corporate corruption?
And that’s what President Trump told me that he wanted. He also told me that he wanted to end the grip of the neocons on U.S. foreign policy. He said he didn’t want any more $200 trillion – $200 billion wars in Ukraine, that we could use that money back here in the United States.
And the safest – the best way to build a safe America is to rebuild our industrial base and rebuild the middle class in this country. And don’t you want a president who’s going to get us out of the wars and who’s going to rebuild the middle class in this country?
Freedom of Speech and Democracy
And he told me that he wanted to end the censorship because the whole basis of American democracy is the free flow of information. And we know that a government that can silence its opponents has license for any kind of atrocity.
And can you think of any time that you can look back in history and say that the people who were censoring were the good guys? They’re always the bad guys because it’s always the first step down that slippery slope to totalitarianism. And don’t you want a president who’s going to protect America’s freedoms and who is going to protect us against totalitarianism?
Closing Remarks
And I want to ask you again, don’t you want a safe environment for your children? Don’t you want to know that the food that you’re feeding them is not filled with chemicals that are going to give them cancer and chronic disease? And don’t you want a president that’s going to make America healthy again?
Thank you all very, very much and God bless you and God bless America.
