The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association is investigating Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after the resurfacing of a decades-old incident in which Kennedy allegedly drove a dead whale’s head across state lines, a representative for the agency told ABC News.
Kate Silverstein, a spokeswoman for NOAA Fisheries, told ABC News Monday that the agency was investigating Kennedy, confirming what the former independent presidential candidate told a crowd in Arizona over the weekend.
“I received a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Institute saying that they were investigating me for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago,” Kennedy said at the event, where he was campaigning for former President Donald Trump, whom he endorsed after suspending his own campaign.
In a 2012 Town and Country article, Kennedy’s daughter, Kick Kennedy, told an anecdote about her father’s handling of a dead whale that washed up on a Massachusetts beach.
Robert Kennedy used a chainsaw to cut off the head of the whale and strapped it to the roof of his minivan roughly three decades ago, Kick Kennedy recounted.
The story resurfaced last month and drew condemnation from at least one environmental group, which called for the NOAA to investigate.
Silverstein did not respond to a question seeking confirmation that NOAA’s investigation was related to the incident Kick Kennedy described.
She said the agency does not comment on ongoing investigations.
Under investigation by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. an agency representative told ABC News following the resuscitation of a long-forgotten story in which Kennedy is accused of driving a dead whale’s head across state lines.
Asserting what the former independent presidential candidate told an audience in Arizona over the weekend, Kate Silverstein, a NOAA Fisheries spokeswoman, informed ABC News on Monday that the organization was looking into Kennedy.
Kennedy was campaigning for former President Donald Trump, whom he endorsed after suspending his own campaign. “I received a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Institute saying that they were investigating me for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago,” Kennedy said at the event.
Kennedy’s daughter Kick shared a tale about her father’s treatment of a dead whale that washed up on a Massachusetts beach in a Town and Country article from 2012.
About three decades ago, Kick Kennedy recalled, Robert Kennedy took a chainsaw to the whale’s head and strapped it to the roof of his minivan.
When the story surfaced again last month, at least one environmental group condemned it and demanded that the NOAA look into it.
When asked if Silverstein could confirm that NOAA’s investigation was connected to the incident Kick Kennedy reported, Silverstein did not answer.
Ongoing investigations are not subject to agency commentary, according to her.
