RFK Jr. is being investigated by National Marine Fisheries Institute for whale incident


It’s been almost a month since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Donald Trump. It’s hard to believe that it’s been that long because sso many things have happened since that first debate in late June. At this point, basically everything feels like it simultaneously happened both months ago and just last week.

If you thought RFK Jr. was going to go away after he appeared on stage to endorse that orange menace, you were sadly mistaken. He’s just too bizarre to go away! First, there was the bear in Central Park story. Then, there was that picture of him with an (alleged) barbecued goat. Next, a story that his daughter Kick Kennedy once told circulated. If you haven’t heard that one, you can read in the quoted text below. For those of you with weak stomachs, it involved a whale, his family, and a minivan. That story was so gross and absurd that it caught the attention of authorities. Over the weekend, RFK Jr. announced that he was being investigated by the National Marine Fisheries Institute for “collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago.”

Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Saturday he is being investigated for collecting a whale specimen.

“I received a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Institute saying that they were investigating me for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago,” Kennedy said during a campaign event for former President Donald Trump in Glendale, Arizona, noting that he received the letter “this week.”

Kennedy said that he responded in a letter, baselessly linking the National Marine Fisheries Service with whale deaths and calling for the agency to investigate.

“This is all about the weaponization of our government against political opponents,” he said.

Kennedy did not go into details about the whale incident, but his daughter had previously described a situation involving a whale that took place 30 years ago.

His daughter Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, 36, described in a 2012 article for Town & Country magazine how, when she was 6, her father used a chainsaw to cut the head off a dead whale that had washed ashore and bungee-corded it to the family’s car during their drive home.

“Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet,” she told the magazine at the time. “We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s comments came during a campaign event alongside former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for Trump at Arizona Christian University. Kennedy endorsed Trump in August and has since been on the campaign trail urging supporters to back the former president.

Kennedy told NBC News after the program that he has never killed a whale. The National Marine Fisheries Service, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, did not immediately respond to a request for comment and confirmation Saturday night.

When asked by a reporter after the campaign event for details about the investigation, Kennedy said he was “not going to talk” about the incident, but would talk about “serious policy issues.” He criticized the media as wanting to discuss “gossipy nonsense,” adding, “I’m not interested in feeding that feature of mainstream media.”

After the 2012 story resurfaced last month, an environmental group urged federal officials to investigate the incident.

“Kennedy may think that his name and privilege mean the rules don’t apply to him, but if he had a shred of integrity left he’d surrender this whale skull and any other illegally collected wildlife parts to the authorities,” said Brett Hartl, political director for the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, in a news release. “If he doesn’t, NOAA law enforcement should open an investigation and potentially bring charges against him.”

[From NBC News]

Of course that weirdo would claim “weaponization of government” against him and then baselessly blame them for whale deaths. Heaven forbid his own actions have consequences. I bet he really doesn’t think he did anything wrong with or even remotely terrible to that whale. Just because he didn’t kill it, it doesn’t mean that he didn’t do something that was at best, extremely gross and weird, and at worst, illegal. Bah. I hope NMF seriously looks into it. Justice for the whale and for that minivan! There’s got to be so many stories about RFK Jr. out there, and I have a feeling that we’ve just barely scratched the surface, ugh. Well, at least Trump has always been consistent about only having “the best people” around him (/sarcasm).

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos credit: MAGO/hoo-me.com/MediaPunch / Avalon, Getty and via Instagram

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

16 Responses to “RFK Jr. is being investigated by National Marine Fisheries Institute for whale incident”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. ML says:

    I kind of feel that if the authorities are going to look into the whale story decades later (and over a decade after his daughter told this story), then authorities should also look into his parenting. His daughter was 6 at the time of the whale, and described this as a normal occurrence for them. Pre-worm, there was clearly a lot wrong with this guy.

  2. SIde Eye says:

    Loose lips sink ships lol the Kitt and Ben clown show is what made this whole story resurface.

    He has a long and very weird, gross and violent track record with animals.

    • DK says:

      ITA, and I love this for him [that Kick’s 15 seconds of fame brought attention to this old story, I do NOT love his abuse of animals!].

      Also, since the investigation began after he dropped out of the campaign, I’m not sure his whining about weaponizing justice against political opponents has much weight.

      You’re already done politically, bro. Your best chance now is DT getting elected and giving you a gig. And even if he promised to do so, you can’t count on DT to keep any promises, so good luck with that.

  3. DaveW says:

    Go into any restaurant or bar in Hyannis and odds are they have a story about RJK, Jr. (actually most of the Kennedy’s, trust when I say most are NOT beloved in town)….His drunken shenanigans are legendary along with being known as a complete and utter a-hole. He was probably drunk, high, both when he did this, and honestly, even then, who does stuff like this?!

    When I read posts of people who think RJK, Jr. is some deep thinker, thought leader, profound and just too wise for the average person I honestly think they are even more dumb than people who believe Drumpf is a great businessman who genuinely cares about them and their success.

  4. FancyPants says:

    THEY’RE STEALING THE WHALES THEY’RE EATING THE WHALES I SAW IT ON THE TV! Did I miss something or has nobody said what he intended to do with the chainsawed whale head strapped to the roof of the car?

  5. RMS says:

    I just finished Reading “Ask not: The Kennedys and the Women they Destroyed” by Maureen Callahan, Gabra Zackman, et al. The stories in there had me gobsmacked and reading portions out loud to anyone within ear shot. CRAZY well researched and fact checked and footnoted – otherwise it would have been litigated to the ends of the earth. Why we continue to hold this family of criminals, addicts, rapists, adulterers, murderers and worse up as ‘America’s First family’ is now a total mystery to me. It’s a gripping tale and I wish it was required reading in schools everywhere. He is mentioned in the forward as well as a chapter on the wife that committed suicide. None of the Kennedy men come off well. Not many of the Kennedy women escape unscathed. Can not recommend this book enough!

    • Eating Popcorn says:

      I couldn’t get past the 3rd chapter; it was one of the most depressing books I have read in ages. To read about so many women being so mistreated, it broke my heart. Screw the Kennedy men and their misogyny.

    • BQM says:

      She’s a major Sussex critic which will make her unpopular here but people should still read this book. Depressing but important.

    • BQM says:

      She’s a major Sussex critic who he’ll make her unpopular here but hopefully no stop people from reading this book. Depressing but important.

    • kirk says:

      Wow, almost had me rushing out to buy a copy. But no, never mind; “Maureen Callahan is an American columnist for the Daily Mail known for her opinion pieces regarding politics, feminism, pop culture, and current events.” (Wikipedia). Is RFK weird? Most definitely. Which would, of course, attract weird people who smell money in the vicinity. When the most positive review excerpted on bookmarksreviews.com makes it sound like more unsubstantiated, turgid prose from a DailyFail writer, I’m gonna pass. “Callahan refloats unfounded claims that suggest both JFK and Robert F. Kennedy were somehow involved in Marilyn Monroe’s suicide … Callahan has a good eye for lurid details … The anecdotes that make up this book are not news, but Callahan strings them together in a way that makes the House of Kennedy look like Bluebeard’s castle of horrors.” (Nina Burleigh, WaPo).

  6. Murphy says:

    A bear and a whale, just the tip of the iceberg with this guy. 70 years of debauchery.

  7. AngryJayne says:

    …is it me or is he slowly morphing into Jabba the Hutt?

  8. BeanieBean says:

    Ha! Good! I remember commenting on that earlier article, that if it were an endangered whale, then cutting off the head & taking it home was illegal, per the Endangered Species Act. It’s not just about NOT killing an endangered species, but you’re not allowed to collect their parts, either. For example, if you see a pretty feather on the forest floor, if it’s from an endangered bird you are not allowed to collect that feather (Native Americans, however, still retain their traditional rights, e.g., with eagle feathers).

    And this is not ‘weaponizing the government over political opponents’, this is about ensuring that NO ONE is above the law.