Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign referred to the Jan. 6, 2021, protesters as "activists" who have been "stripped of their Constitutional liberties," but now says the description was an "error."
A Kennedy campaign email had used the initial description of those protesting at the Capitol in an email calling for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's release, The Washington Post reported.
That email, titled "We Must Free Assange!," urged Kennedy's followers to sign a petition calling for the release of Assange and compared those jailed for the Jan. 6 action to Assange and Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked details about top-secret U.S surveillance programs, the newspaper said.
Snowden is now living in Moscow.
According to NBC News, the email from Team Kennedy said: "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."
A British court is currently deciding whether to extradite Assange to the U.S.
But on Thursday, the Kennedy campaign claimed that the candidate did not approve the email's wording and said it was an error by a contractor, who has since been terminated.
The Post noted Kennedy has previously downplayed the Jan. 6 protest and said he is open to pardoning them.
Kennedy spokesperson Stefanie Spear told NBC News that the language was an "error."
"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," she said.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump is promising that one of his first acts if elected president will be to free the people who were "wrongfully imprisoned" after being convicted of crimes in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 protests at the U.S. Capitol.
"My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!" Trump said in a post on his Truth Social account on March 11.
Trump has also referred to the defendants who have been jailed as "hostages," which the White House has said is "grotesque."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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