RFK Jr. campaign axes consultant whose ‘No. 1 priority’ was defeating Biden
A consultant for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential bid was axed from her role after video emerged of her suggesting his voters’ No. 1 priority was taking down President Biden.
Kennedy’s campaign manager and daughter-in-law, Amaryllis Fox, confirmed Wednesday that adviser Rita Palma was fired.
“We terminated her contract for misrepresentation immediately upon seeing the longer video in which she gave an inaccurate job title and described a conversation that did not happen,” Fox posted on X.
Palma had been a fierce critic of vaccine mandates and claimed to be the campaign’s New York state director, though Kennedy’s team disputed that, insisting she was a ballot consultant.
She also claims to have voted for former President Donald Trump. Footage surfaced this week showing her saying, “The Kennedy voter and the Trump voter, the enemy, our mutual enemy is Biden.”
“We all know how that works, right? 270 wins the election,” Palma went on. “If you don’t get to 270, if nobody gets to 270, then Congress picks the president. So who are they going to pick? Who are they going to pick, if it’s a Republican Congress? They’ll pick Trump. So we’re rid of Biden either way.”
In the clip, Palma laid out a game plan to siphon votes away from Biden by homing in on blue states, while the incumbent president focuses on battleground states.
She theorized that could cut down Biden’s margins in places like New York to help erode his Electoral College votes, potentially to the point where a GOP-led House of Representatives would have to name the presidential victor.
Fox downplayed the video Monday, insisting the Palma “has no involvement in — or access to — electoral strategy, nationally or in New York.
“Palma was speaking as a private citizen and her statements in no way reflect campaign strategy, the sole aim of which is to win the White House with votes from former Trump and Biden supporters alike,” she added at the time on X.
Kennedy and his team have been seeking to fend off accusations that his candidacy serves as a spoiler to benefit Trump.
“For those who want to defeat Trump, Biden is the spoiler, not Bobby. Two-horse polling during the primary showed clearly that Bobby beat Trump in a general election matchup, while Biden lost to Trump every time,” Fox claimed.
Trump, 77, has blasted the independent hopeful as hewing more to the “radical Left” than Biden, 81.
In the video, Palma boasted about having “more Trump T-shirts than I do Bobby Kennedy T-shirts,” but argued that the 45th president lost her support due to the vaccines.
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, has built a name for himself by voicing skepticism about multiple vaccines and railing against mandates.
The Post attempted to contact Palma for comment.
She confirmed to NBC News that she was terminated and hailed her time with the campaign as “one of the best political adventures of my life.”
“I hold no ill will and look forward to the next seven months of watching Bobby shine,” she added.
Kennedy first mounted his 2024 bid as a Democrat seeking to challenge Biden for the party nod. He switched his party affiliation to independent in October.
Most of his family has backed Biden, who has several Kennedys working within his administration, including Caroline Kennedy as ambassador to Australia, Victoria Kennedy as ambassador to Austria and Joe Kennedy III as special envoy for Northern Ireland.
