RFK Jr. disavows fundraising email boosting ‘J6 activists’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign walked back a line in a fundraising email sent to supporters Thursday afternoon, which described people detained for storming the Capitol in 2021 as “J6 activists.”

“[That] statement was an error that does not reflect Mr. Kennedy's views. It was inserted by a new marketing contractor and slipped through the normal approval process,” campaign press secretary Stefanie Spear said in a statement.

The campaign later said it terminated its contract with the vendor, which it did not name.

The email from his campaign implored supporters to donate to the campaign to help Kennedy “expose the Deep State” and “free [WikiLeaks founder] Julian Assange,” who is fighting extradition to the U.S. in a British court. The email also suggested that Assange, former National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden and the Jan. 6 defendants had been deprived of their rights.

"This is the reality that every American Citizen faces — from Ed Snowden, to Julian Assange to the J6 activists sitting in a Washington DC jail cell stripped of their Constitutional liberties. Please help our campaign call out the illiberal actions of our very own government," the email read. NBC News first reported the email.

The language closely echoed former President Donald Trump, who often refers to people arrested for their involvement in the Jan. 6 riot as “hostages” and “patriots.” The presumptive Republican nominee has promised “full pardons” for those involved in the insurrection.

Kennedy, who is running as an independent, previously told Fox News’s Neil Cavuto that he does, if elected, plan to pardon Assange and Snowden, but he declined to comment on his plans for the Jan. 6 rioters.