Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and MSNBC’s Ari Melber clashed in a fiery interview where Kennedy Jr. refused to say whether he’d pardon Jan. 6 Capitol rioters or draw a stark contrast between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, Melber played highlights of Trump’s most controversial recent remarks, from floating the possibility of pardoning Jan. 6 rioters to declaring he’ll be dictator for “one day” if reelected.
“People are concerned not that this is Nader 2.0, but that you are using the platform and the following you have to suggest that they are both catastrophic, and they’re similar and that you, they say, are ignoring not only the policy difference, but the actual possible democracy and autocratic threat of Donald Trump if he wins again,” Melber said.
Kennedy Jr. said both Biden and Trump “did bad things for our country” and shot back at Melber, saying his push to have him condemn Trump was part of the media pushing “vitriol.”
“Neither of them can end the vitriol that you are trying to prop up right now,” he said.
Melber jumped in and sparks flew between the two for the rest of the interview.
“What have I said that’s vitriolic?” Melber asked.
“What you’re saying to me, that I need to take a side and say one person —” Kennedy Jr. began before Melber jumped in again.
“No, I’m asking you about — you’re running for president and it’s a big job and I’m asking you about what people say about that,” he said.
“You told me I would have the floor!” Kennedy Jr. shot back.
The third party candidate said the country is “polarized” and him piling on Trump individually feeds into that.
“You’re not addressing the question I raised,” Melber eventually said.
“You’re trying to get me to hate on President Trump!” Kennedy Jr. said.
Honing in on Jan. 6 pardons, Melber then pushed Kennedy Jr. to say whether he agreed with that and Kennedy Jr. refused to say one way or another, claiming it would be a mistake to say ahead of time as a lawyer. He did, however, condemn some rioters and said they belong in jail.
“Look, January 6th was a terrible time in our history. A terrible day. People committed terrible crimes. They committed violence against police officers, they broke into the Capitol, they stormed the capitol, they committed other crimes and a lot of people are in jail and they should be, so I condemn that,” he said. “But I’m not going to campaign based upon drumming up or amplifying people’s hatred toward each other.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
