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The presidential marketing campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vaccine skeptic working as an impartial candidate, mentioned in an e mail on Thursday that rioters charged with crimes in reference to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol and held in a Washington jail had been “stripped of their constitutional liberties.”
Almost 4 hours later, the marketing campaign retracted the assertion. Stefanie Spear, the press secretary for Mr. Kennedy’s marketing campaign, mentioned the assertion “was an error that doesn’t replicate Mr. Kennedy’s views,” including, “It was inserted by a brand new advertising contractor and slipped by the conventional approval course of.”
Ms. Spear harassed that “anyone who violated the legislation on Jan. 6 ought to be topic to acceptable felony and/or civil penalties.” The marketing campaign later added that it had terminated its contract with the corporate it mentioned was chargeable for the error.
The e-mail appeared to align the candidate nearer to the place of former President Donald J. Trump, certainly one of his opponents within the presidential race, in addition to others on the fitting who say the rioters have been handled unfairly by the justice system — even portray them as martyrs. It follows feedback from Mr. Kennedy this week suggesting that President Biden posed a higher risk to American democracy than Mr. Trump.
The Kennedy marketing campaign e mail, soliciting donations from supporters, targeted totally on the plight of Julian Assange, the embattled WikiLeaks founder who’s going through extradition to america to face fees of violating the Espionage Act. The marketing campaign described Mr. Assange as a “political prisoner” and requested supporters to signal a petition urging america to drop the fees in opposition to him.
“The Brits need to ensure our authorities doesn’t kill Assange,” the e-mail mentioned, earlier than including that “that is the fact that each American citizen faces — from Ed Snowden, to Julian Assange to the J6 activists sitting in a Washington, D.C., jail cell stripped of their constitutional liberties.”
Mr. Trump and allies in Congress, in addition to far-right circles on-line, have introduced the Jan. 6 rioters as heroes and martyrs, falsely suggesting both that the riot was a peaceable protest in opposition to voter fraud or that the violence they carried out on that day was essential to overturn the outcomes of the election and set up Mr. Trump in workplace for an additional time period. Explicit consideration has been paid to these rioters who’ve been held on the native jail in Washington.
Mr. Trump has made this revisionist view of the occasions of Jan. 6 central to his marketing campaign. He has vowed to pardon these going through fees over their participation within the assault on the Capitol, and he has at current rallies referred to these detained in reference to their participation as “hostages.”
Mr. Kennedy, who has based his political profession on selling vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories concerning the authorities, has described Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the election as “appalling,” however he has additionally expressed sympathy for “individuals who say that the election is stolen” — counting himself for instance. He asserted in an interview on CNN on Monday that the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections have been stolen from the Democrats, including, “We shouldn’t make pariahs of these individuals, we shouldn’t demonize, and we shouldn’t vilify them.”
Mr. Kennedy additionally informed The Washington Put up in response to a questionnaire final 12 months that he would contemplate pardoning individuals convicted in reference to Jan. 6. “If prosecutorial malfeasance is demonstrated, then sure,” he mentioned. “In any other case, no.”
Mr. Assange and Mr. Snowden have at occasions acquired sympathy from each liberal and conservative figures, in addition to nonpartisan press freedom advocates, who say they’re the victims of overzealous prosecution in violation of the constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of the press. Mr. Trump, who as soon as sided with Mr. Assange over the conclusions of America’s intelligence providers, had thought of pardoning each Mr. Assange and Mr. Snowden — who fled into exile in Russia greater than a decade in the past — throughout his time period in workplace.
The Kennedy marketing campaign’s grouping the 2 males, needed for leaking U.S. intelligence secrets and techniques, with the rioters who stormed the Capitol stood out — notably the reference to the Washington jail.
Greater than 1,250 individuals have been charged with crimes in reference to the assault — and tons of of individuals have been convicted. However solely 29 defendants are being held within the Washington jail, in line with a assessment of the instances by NBC Information, and most have already been convicted of violent crimes, together with assaulting cops through the assault. NBC additionally reported that simply 15 Jan. 6 defendants have been nonetheless in pretrial detention.
Michael Gold contributed reporting from New York.
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