An aide to independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr, attended Donald Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’ rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and referred to Trump as her “favorite president,” CNN reports.
Rita Palma, RFK Jr. campaign’s state director in New York, attended the rally and later blamed the riot on a “rigged election.”
“Actually the fault lies with the rigged election. Genius,” Palma wrote the day after the riot, in response to then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY.) that Trump is to be blame for the violence at the Capitol.
“Jan 6 was not a riot. A small group of people were trouble. It was 99.9 peaceful, respectful. I was there,” she wrote in another post.
In February 2021, Palma tweeted that she would be voting for Trump in 2024 and asked whether he could serve a third term in office.
CNN also found social media posts in which Palma referred to Trump as her “favorite president” along with several tweets promoting the debunked lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
Even though she attended the rally, CNN noted that there is no evidence to show that she went to the Capitol with the other Trump supporters.
The report comes after Palma was seen on video telling New York Republicans in a meeting that “getting rid of Biden” is her “number one priority” and this can be achieved by getting RFK Jr on the ballot in every state, including New York.
“The only way that Trump can even, remote possibility of taking New York is if Bobby is on the ballot. If it’s Trump vs. Biden, Biden wins. Biden wins six days, seven days a week. With Bobby in the mix, anything can happen,” Palma said. “The only way for him, for Bobby, to shake it up and to get rid of Biden is if he’s on the ballot in every state, including New York.”
