Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s attempt at a heartfelt tribute for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk ended up raising eyebrows instead when he made a bizarre remark about their supposed first meeting.
The Health Secretary was one of multiple Trump officials who attended a packed vigil for Kirk at the Kennedy Center on Sunday night. Kennedy sang high praises for the podcaster, but threw off listeners when he recounted the story of how they first met.
“I met Charlie for the first time in July of 2001. I went on his podcast, and I think we approached each other with a lot of trepidation at that time, but by the end of the podcast, we were soulmates,” he recalled. “We were spiritual brothers, and we were friends, and over the next couple of years, our friendship blossomed.”
Kirk, born on Oct. 14, 1993, was 31 when he was shot dead at a Utah Valley University event last week. That means he would have been just seven years old when Kennedy claims they first met in July 2001.
While several social media users noted that it was “odd” how Kennedy became “soulmates” with a minor, others speculated that he likely meant 2021, when he appeared on The Charlie Kirk Show for a nearly hour-long episode released in July that year.
Kirk and Kennedy, who both have a history of pushing misinformation about vaccines, spoke at the time about the future Health Secretary’s book targeting Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the Biden administration’s COVID-19 response.
“That first conversation with him that I had, we talked a lot. We had a wide-ranging conversation,” Kennedy said Sunday as he listed his grievances with the Biden administration over COVID-era policies such as social distancing.
“I had a conversation once with Charlie where we were talking about the danger that we both face from challenging entrenched interests, and he asked me if I was scared to die,” he went on. “And I said to him, there’s a lot worse things than dying, and the chief among those is losing our constitutional rights and having our children raised in slavery.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Health Department for clarification on Kennedy’s remarks.
The vigil for Kirk featured appearances from top conservative figures, including Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Noticeably absent, however, was one of Kirk’s closest allies: President Donald Trump. Though the president has expressed sadness and outrage over Kirk’s killing, he skipped the event after spending the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Trump did vow to be at Kirk’s funeral in Arizona this weekend.
“It’s a very sad weekend in the sense that we lost a great person,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. “We’re going to Arizona, taking some people with us on Air Force One.”
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