‘It’s Weird’: RFK Jr. Says Harris Would Not Meet With Him

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently revealed in an interview with Tucker Carlson that Vice President Kamala Harris declined his request for a meeting, in contrast to former President Donald Trump, who agreed to meet with him.

“I reached out to her, and I reached out to a number of people, including some relatives of mine, who are very, very close to her personally and to the, in the Democratic Party,” Kennedy explained. “And they just said, ‘That’s a non-starter. There’s no way in the world she’s going to talk to you.'”

Kennedy mentioned that instead of meeting with Harris, he was offered a meeting with a “low-level campaign official” on her staff, an offer he declined.

“And I said, ‘Okay, I’m not interested in that,’” Kennedy told Carlson.

When Carlson asked why Kennedy believed Harris refused to meet with him, Kennedy speculated: “Maybe that same reason that [she] hasn’t given an interview.” As of Tuesday, Harris had gone nearly 40 days without participating in an unscripted press conference to discuss her policies if she were to win the presidency.

Kennedy also expressed concern that some Democrats he knows are comfortable with electing someone who “cannot give an interview” because, in his view, they are “electing the apparatus” around Harris rather than Harris herself.

“But the apparatus — I don’t have any faith in it. The apparatus are neo-cons like Antony Blinken, who are running us right up into World War III. And they are people who masterminded the censorship from inside the White House. That’s the apparatus that they want to reelect,” Kennedy stated. “…These are the people who are censoring me. These are the people who tried to throw me out of the party, who canceled the primaries.”

Carlson responded by asserting that “electing an apparatus is not how democracy works.”

“That’s an oligarchy — just a point of fact,” Carlson added. “…But she wouldn’t even talk to you. I think it’s very weird.”

Kennedy agreed, saying, “It’s weird, but I can’t stress it enough: not being able to give an interview? I mean, your whole life is in public life. That’s what you do,” before highlighting that Trump frequently speaks with reporters “who write crappy articles about him all the time.”

“One of the functions of a president is to explain to us why we should be proud of each other, and why we are part of a community, and why our country is great, and what our future is going to look like… and inspire all of us with that vision,” Kennedy continued. “That is what a real leader does. How in the world can you do that if you cannot give an interview to a news [organization] or a friendly [news organization]. They can’t even do a setup interview in 40 days.”

Reports emerged on Tuesday indicating that Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have finally agreed to a sit-down interview with CNN’s Dana Bash. However, these reports noted that the interview would not be live, allowing CNN and Bash to selectively edit Harris’s responses to present her in a more presidential manner than the “word salad” responses for which she is often criticized.

In addition, Trump announced that he and Harris have “reached an agreement” to debate on September 10. Trump said that “the rules will be the same as the last CNN debate, which seemed to work out well for everyone.”

A source familiar with the discussions indicated that the debate rules would resemble those used by CNN during its June 27 debate between Trump and President Joe Biden—microphones will be muted while the other candidate speaks, and there will be no studio audience, with both candidates standing.