RFK Jr. angled for Cabinet post in future Kamala Harris administration

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attempted to get in contact with Vice President Kamala Harris‘s campaign for a discussion about a position in her future Cabinet a month after he met with former President Donald Trump about the topic.

The offer from the Kennedy campaign would have been a job in a Harris administration in exchange for him endorsing her, but the Harris team has shown no interest in meeting with Kennedy, according to the Washington Post.

“From the beginning of this campaign, we were saying people should be talking to each other,” Kennedy told the Washington Post on Wednesday. “That is the only way of unifying the country.”

He also said he hopes Harris’s team will change its mind, saying he thinks it could be a boost to her campaign.

“I think it is a strategic mistake for them. That’s my perspective,” Kennedy said. “I think they ought to be looking at every opportunity. I think it is going to be a very close race.”

On Thursday morning, Kennedy pushed back on claims he would endorse Harris in a lengthy post on X. He claimed that “VP Harris’s Democratic Party would be unrecognizable to my father and uncle and I cannot reconcile it with my values.”

VP Harris’s Democratic Party would be unrecognizable to my father and uncle and I cannot reconcile it with my values.

The Democratic Party of RFK and JFK was the party of civil liberties and free speech. VP Harris‘s is the party of censorship, lockdowns, and medical coercion.…

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 15, 2024

“I’ve spent years battling government corruption and lies. VP Harris spent years gaslighting Americans about the health of our Commander in Chief. I have no plans to endorse Kamala Harris for President. I do have a plan to defeat her,” Kennedy said in the post.

Trump and Kennedy met in July during the Republican National Convention, in which the independent presidential candidate offered to endorse Trump in exchange for a position in his administration, should the former president win in November. The talks reportedly did not result in any deal between the two presidential candidates.

Kennedy made the pitch that he would be a strong Democratic contender to Trump when President Joe Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee. As Biden fell in the polls following a disastrous debate in June, Kennedy said he could be a replacement for the president. Kennedy challenged Biden in the Democratic primary before deciding to run as an independent.

In a five-way matchup featuring Harris, Trump, Kennedy, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and independent candidate Cornel West, Kennedy is only garnering 5.5%, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average. Earlier this year, when Biden was in the race, Kennedy had multiple polls show him at double digits percentage-wise.

As Kennedy continues his independent bid for the White House, he has run into trouble with ballot access, as he was rejected from the New York ballot earlier this week.