RFK Jr campaign aide revealed as attendee of Jan 6 ‘Stop the Steal’ rally for Trump

A campaign aide for independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr has been revealed as an attendee of the infamous “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6 2021 in support of Donald Trump.

Rita Palma, who is an aide for RFK Jr’s campaign in New York, called Mr Trump her “favorite president,” and attended several “Stop the Steal” rallies following the 2020 election, according to now deleted tweets sent from Ms Palma’s account seen by CNN, as well as comments she posted on the conservative social media site Parler that have since been made private.

According to CNN, in late December, Ms Palma tweeted that she would attend the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington DC on January 6. “I got my hotel room!,” she wrote, adding: “I’ll be there in Jan 6th #FightforTrump #Jan6.”

Although Ms Palma allegedly attended the January 6 rally, there is no indication that she took part in any violence or attended the Capitol riot that followed, CNN reported.

However, she later dismissed the violence during the Capitol riot as the work of a few attendees.

“Jan 6 was not a riot. A small group of people were trouble. It was 99.9 peaceful, respectful. I was there,” she wrote in a deleted tweet.

She also dismissed suggestions from then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that Mr Trump was to blame for violence at the Capitol.

“Actually the fault lies with the rigged election. Genius,” she wrote the day after the riot.

In separate tweets, which were analysed by CNN using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, Ms Palma repeatedly affirmed her support for Mr Trump and even asked whether he could run for a third term in 2028, despite the constitution prohibiting this.

“#Trump2024 Can he run in 2028 too?” she tweeted, posting a meme that said she would vote for Trump in 2024.

She also used the hashtag #BidenCheated 86 times from November 2020 to February 2021, according to CNN.

Meanwhile, in posts she made on the conservative social media site Parler, Ms Palma was also seen posing for a photo at the former Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, alongside Sidney Powell – the pro-Trump attorney who later pleaded guilty in Georgia’s election subversion case.

In the same post, she called Ms Powell “MY PERSON OF THE DECADE!!”

Ms Palma also posted about her affinity for Ms Powell on Twitter. “You were born/ chosen for this fight and you will win, win, win. WE LOVE YOU, TOO!” she wrote.

Last year, Ms Powell pleaded guilty in Georgia’s election subversion case in which Mr Trump and a host of co-defendants are accused of orchestrating a fraudulent scheme to replace state electors with Trump loyalists in an effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Mr Trump has since attempted to distance himself from Ms Powell, falsely claiming “MS POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS,” in a post on Truth Social. Ms Powell, however, was among a group of attorneys including Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis leading a spurious effort with the Trump campaign to reject election results in states that Mr Trump lost.

Ms Palma’s support for Ms Powell and her promotion and attendance at “Stop the Steal” events reflects a segment of support RFK Jr has received from Trump supporters.

Despite his family’s close historical ties to the Democratic party, polls show that far more Republicans than Democrats have a favourable opinion of RFK Jr, according to The AP, with election polls showing that Mr Kennedy Jr could take critical votes away from Mr Biden in November, helping Mr Trump’s chances.

Ms Palma previously told a gathering of New York state Republicans that efforts to put Mr Kennedy Jr on the ballot in New York would help “get rid of Biden,” which she called her “No. 1 priority.”

“The only way that Trump can even, remote possibility of taking New York is if Bobby is on the ballot. If it’s Trump vs. Biden, Biden wins. Biden wins six days, seven days a week. With Bobby in the mix, anything can happen,” Ms Palma said in video footage of the meeting, according to CNN.

“The only way for him, for Bobby, to shake it up and to get rid of Biden is if he’s on the ballot in every state, including New York,” she continued.

Following the resurfaced video footage, the Kennedy campaign has since distanced itself from Ms Palma, with campaign director Amaryllis Fox writing on X on Monday that “Rita Palma was hired a couple of weeks ago as a ballot access consultant, responsible for scheduling volunteer shifts during our upcoming signature collection drive in the Empire State. She has no involvement in -- or access to -- electoral strategy, nationally or in New York.

“We’re looking into whether any misrepresentations were made. Our campaign champions freedom of speech for all our supporters, volunteers, contractors and staff, as long as they do not claim to speak on our behalf,” she added.

The Independent has contacted Rita Palma for comment.

On Tuesday, she wrote on her Facebook page: “I supported Trump. Knocked on doors for him in PA in ‘16 and ‘20, have a big pile of shirts, attended so many rallies. Great time, good years with Trump. He truly loves America.”

She also described Mr Kennedy Jr as a “Hero of health freedom, truth teller… deeply brilliant, thoughtful, compassionate, authentic, humble… and on a mission.

“He truly loves America, she added, writing: “I have never, ever wanted someone to win the Presidential race more than I want Bobby to win. And I have never, ever wanted anyone to lose the Presidential race more than I want Biden to lose, and miserably.”