RFK Jr. says he is being investigated for collecting whale specimen

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Saturday he is being investigated for collecting a whale specimen.

"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 during a campaign event for former President Donald Trump in Glendale, Arizona, noting that he received the letter "this week."

Kennedy said that he responded in a letter, baselessly linking the National Marine Fisheries Service with whale deaths and calling for the agency to investigate.

"This is all about the weaponization of our government against political opponents," he said.

His daughter Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, 36, described in a 2012 article for Town & Country magazine how, when she was 6, her father used a chainsaw to cut the head off a dead whale that had washed ashore and bungee-corded it to the family's car during their drive home.

"Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet," she told the magazine at the time. "We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s comments came during a campaign event alongside former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for Trump at Arizona Christian University. Kennedy endorsed Trump in August and has since been on the campaign trail urging supporters to back the former president.

Kennedy told NBC News after the program that he has never killed a whale.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, did not immediately respond to a request for comment and confirmation Saturday night.

When asked by a reporter after the campaign event for details about the investigation, Kennedy said he was "not going to talk" about the incident, but would talk about "serious policy issues." He criticized the media as wanting to discuss "gossipy nonsense," adding, "I’m not interested in feeding that feature of mainstream media."

After the 2012 story resurfaced last month, an environmental group urged federal officials to investigate the incident.

"Kennedy may think that his name and privilege mean the rules don’t apply to him, but if he had a shred of integrity left he’d surrender this whale skull and any other illegally collected wildlife parts to the authorities," said Brett Hartl, political director for the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, in a news release. "If he doesn’t, NOAA law enforcement should open an investigation and potentially bring charges against him."

Kennedy previously faced blowback for saying in August that he had once put a young dead bear in Central Park after planning to skin the bear for meat. He described in a video ultimately deciding to try to make it look like the cub got hit by a bike in the park, saying, "We thought it would be amusing for whoever found it."

Alex Tabet reported from Glendale, Arizona, and Megan Lebowitz from Washington, D.C.