小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪周五宣布，他将暂停长期的总统竞选，转而支持前总统唐纳德·特朗普.
他在年的一次活动中这样做了凤凰在此期间，他鼓励红州或蓝州的选民投票给他，但表示他将在战场州退出投票，在那里他可以充当“搅局者”。
“我希望每个人都知道，我不会终止我的竞选，”他说。“我只是暂停它，而不是结束它。”
不久后，肯尼迪在这位前总统亚利桑那州格伦代尔的集会上与特朗普一起登上舞台。
特朗普表示，他将任命并成立一个独立委员会，调查暗杀企图，并公布所有关于1963年约翰·肯尼迪总统遇刺的剩余文件。
他继续解释是什么驱使他参加竞选，离开民主党，“现在我支持特朗普总统。”
就在他上台之前，他的竞选团队在宾夕法尼亚州提交了一份法庭文件，称肯尼迪将支持特朗普。
肯尼迪发表讲话时，特朗普正在内华达州竞选，他很快庆祝了自己的支持。特朗普将于周五晚些时候在亚利桑那州格伦代尔举行集会，他开玩笑说，他将加入一位“特别嘉宾”。
“我们刚刚得到了小RFK非常好的支持，鲍比，”川普在拉斯维加斯说。“那就大了。他是一个伟大的人，受到每个人的尊重。”
与此同时，民主党全国委员会对肯尼迪的声明做出回应，称“终于摆脱了”
“选民对小RFK了解得越多，他们就越不喜欢他，”民主党全国委员会高级顾问玛丽·贝丝·卡希尔说。“唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)没有赢得有助于赢得支持的支持，他继承了一个失败的边缘候选人的包袱。”
在凤凰城的演讲中，泪眼汪汪的肯尼迪明确表示，他的选择是基于他多年来对一个关键问题的热情:儿童慢性病。
他推断，随着他通往白宫的道路几乎关闭，他将与剩下的一位表示有兴趣从事这项事业的候选人结盟。
肯尼迪说:“如果特朗普总统当选并兑现他的承诺，现在使国家士气低落和破产的慢性疾病的巨大负担将会消失。”
“这对我来说是一次心灵之旅。通过深深的祈祷，通过务实的逻辑，我做出了我的决定，我问自己，我必须做出什么选择才能最大限度地增加我拯救美国儿童和恢复国民健康的机会?”他继续说道。
“我觉得如果我拒绝这个机会，我将无法在镜子里看到自己，知道我可以拯救无数儿童的生命，扭转这个国家的慢性疾病流行。”
肯尼迪圈内的一些人对支持特朗普感到担忧，特朗普的团队只是在上个月民调开始显示前总统在竞选中落后时，才加大了对肯尼迪的示好。
但至少有一位了解特朗普和肯尼迪最近几周谈话的人告诉美国广播公司新闻，特朗普对慢性病问题表现出“真正的关心”。
这位知情人士说，“这两者之间有着很深的联系，我认为人们意识到了”这个问题的重要性。
肯尼迪在凤凰城市中心一家酒店的舞厅发表了他的讲话，几十名工作人员和顶级支持者在没有通知的情况下飞来参加这个匆忙准备的活动。
肯尼迪于2023年4月以民主党人的身份开始了他的白宫之旅，以挑战总统乔·拜登，但几个月后，他放弃了竞选和他的家人几十年来一直象征的政党，以独立身份开辟新的道路。他提名硅谷律师妮可·沙纳汉为竞选伙伴。
肯尼迪的疫苗怀疑主义立场和关于新冠肺炎的争议性言论使他在民主党中疏远了他，他经常与民主党全国委员会就初选过程进行争论，他谴责初选过程不公平。
他自己的家庭成员也对他的观点和他的总统竞选持批评态度。当拜登仍在竞选时，15名肯尼迪家族成员在费城的竞选站发表声明，支持拜登。
周五，他的五个兄弟姐妹发表了一份联合声明，称他们相信副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯和她的竞选搭档明尼苏达州州长蒂姆·沃尔兹。
“我们想要一个充满希望的美国，一个被对更光明未来的共同愿景团结在一起的美国，一个由个人自由、经济承诺和民族自豪感界定的未来。凯瑟琳·肯尼迪·汤森、考特尼·肯尼迪、凯瑞·肯尼迪、克里斯·肯尼迪和罗瑞·肯尼迪说:“我们相信哈里斯和沃尔兹。
“我们的兄弟鲍比今天决定支持特朗普，这是对我们的父亲和家人最珍视的价值观的背叛，”他们继续说道。“这是一个悲伤故事的悲伤结局。”
RFK Jr. says he's suspending 2024 campaign, joins Donald Trump at Arizona rally
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Friday he is suspending his long-shot campaign for president and instead supporting former PresidentDonald Trump.
He did so at an event inPhoenix, Arizona, during which he encouraged voters in red or blue states to vote for him but said he would remove himself from the ballot in battleground states where he could act as a "spoiler."
"I want everyone to know that I am not terminating my campaign," he said. "I am simply suspending it and not ending it."
Soon after, Kennedy joined Trump on stage during the former president's Glendale, Arizona, rally.
Trump said he would appoint and create an independent commission to investigate assassination attempts and release all remaining documents about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
He went on to explain what drove him to enter the race, to leave the Democratic Party and "now to throw my support to President Trump."
Just before he took the stage, his campaign filed a court document in Pennsylvania that said Kennedy would endorse Trump.
Trump, who was in Nevada campaigning as Kennedy spoke, quickly celebrated his support. Trump will be in Arizona later Friday to hold a rally in Glendale, where he teased he would be joined by a "special guest."
"We just had a very nice endorsement from RFK Jr., Bobby," Trump said in Las Vegas. "That's big. He's a great guy, respected by everybody."
Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee responded to Kennedy's announcement with a statement of "good riddance."
"The more voters learned about RFK Jr. the less they liked him," said DNC senior adviser Mary Beth Cahill. "Donald Trump isn't earning an endorsement that's going to help build support, he's inheriting the baggage of a failed fringe candidate."
In his Phoenix speech, a teary-eyed Kennedy made clear he was basing his choice around his yearslong passion for one key issue: chronic illness in children.
With his path to the White House all but shut, he reasoned, he would align with the one remaining candidate who expressed interest in taking up the cause.
"If President Trump is elected and honors his word, the vast burden of chronic disease that now demoralizes and bankrupts the country will disappear," Kennedy said.
"This is a spiritual journey for me. I reached my decision through deep prayer, through hardnosed logic, and I asked myself, what choices must I make to maximize my chance to save America's children and restore national health?" he continued.
"I felt that if I refused this opportunity, I would not be able to look myself in the mirror knowing that I could have saved lives of countless children and reversed this country's chronic disease epidemic."
Some in Kennedy's inner circle had concerns about endorsing Trump, whose team ramped up its courtship of Kennedy only when polls last month began showing the former President trailing in the race.
But at least one person with knowledge of the conversations between Trump and Kennedy in recent weeks told ABC News Trump has shown "genuine care to attack" the issue of chronic disease.
"There was a deep connection, and I think a realization" about the importance of the issue, the person said.
Kennedy gave his remarks in a ballroom at a downtown Phoenix hotel, with dozens of staff and top supporters having flown in with little notice to attend the hastily prepared event.
Kennedy began his White House run in April 2023 as a Democrat to challenge President Joe Biden, but months later dropped the bid and the party that his family has symbolized for decades to chart a new course as an independent. He named Nicole Shanahan, a Silicon Valley lawyer, to be his running mate.
Kennedy's vaccine skepticism stance and controversial remarks about COVID-19 had alienated him among Democrats, and he frequently sparred with the Democratic National Committee about the primary process, which he decried as unfair.
Members of his own family, too, were critical of his views and of his presidential run. Fifteen Kennedy family members made a statement by endorsing Biden at a campaign stop in Philadelphia when he was still in the race.
Five of his siblings released a joint statement on Friday stating they believed in Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
"We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride. We believe in Harris and Walz," said Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy and Rory Kennedy.
"Our brother Bobby's decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear," they continued. "It is a sad ending to a sad story."
