Robert Kennedy Jr. sees ‘overwhelming evidence’ CIA involved in JFK assassination

Robert Kennedy Jr., the long-shot Democratic presidential candidate, has backed a conspiracy theory that the CIA was involved in the killing of his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, arguing the evidence is “overwhelming.”

“There is overwhelming evidence that the CIA was involved in his murder,” Kennedy said in a Sunday interview with John Catsimatidis on New York City radio station WABC 770. “I think it’s beyond a reasonable doubt at this point.”

The CIA has repeatedly denied any allegation that it was involved in the death of Kennedy, who was shot while riding in a convertible in a parade in Dallas in 1963.

The assassination has served as the basis for some of history’s most well-known conspiracy theories.

While Lee Harvey Oswald was officially identified as the gunman in the attack, conspiracy theories have circulated for years around the assassination, casting doubt on whether there were additional shooters or conspirators connected to the attack.

A House committee assembled to investigate the killing said in a 1979 report that given the scientific evidence, it was probable that at least two gunmen fired at the president. It also concluded that he was likely assassinated as the result of a conspiracy, but could not identify the second gunman or the extent of the conspiracy.

John McCone, CIA director when Kennedy was assassinated, testified to the House committee that Oswald was not a CIA agent and the agency never communicated or associated with him. The commission said his testimony was corroborated by the CIA’s file on Oswald.

Kennedy Jr. suggested in his Sunday interview that his uncle’s killing in November 1963 had to do with his refusal to commit U.S. forces to Vietnam.

“When my uncle was president, he was surrounded by a military-industrial complex and intelligence apparatus that was constantly trying to get him to go to war in Laos, Vietnam, etc.,” Kennedy said. “He refused. He said that the job of the American presidency is to keep the nation out of war.”

During the interview, Kennedy also floated the conspiracy theory that the CIA may have been involved in the killing of his own father, Robert F. Kennedy, a former U.S. attorney general who was fatally shot in Los Angeles when campaigning for president in 1968.

Robert Kennedy Jr. said evidence of CIA involvement in his father’s death is “very convincing, but is circumstantial.”

“We do not have the really strong documentary testimonial evidence that we have with my uncle,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy, a prominent anti-vaccine activist, announced last month that he would mount a Democratic primary bid against President Biden in 2024.