RFK Jr.: Feds Are Investigating Me Over Dead Whale Story

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the government is being weaponized against him and he is now facing a federal probe over a 1994 incident in which he allegedly beheaded a dead whale. The incident was recounted by his daughter, Kick Kennedy, in 2012, and that recounting was in turn resurfaced recently amid RFK Jr.'s controversial presidential bid. As Kick Kennedy told it, her dad found a dead whale on the beach during a family vacation to Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, used a chainsaw to remove its head, and then brought the head back to the family home. When the story resurfaced, some activists called for RFK Jr. to be investigated over it, and by his telling, that has come to pass.

"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 a campaign event for Donald Trump, whom he is now backing for president, Saturday in Arizona. He added, per the Guardian, "This is all about the weaponization of our government against political opponents." Per the New York Times, Kennedy also said he believed the statute of limitations would protect him. (Kennedy also came under scrutiny for a 2014 incident involving a dead bear cub.)