RFK Jr. criticizes decisions to remove Trump from the ballot

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sided with Donald Trump on Wednesday in the former president's battle to remain on the ballot.

“Donald Trump has not been convicted of an insurrection. Maybe he did it but, you know, he hasn’t been charged with it,” said Kennedy, who is also an attorney. "I don't think it's fair."

Kennedy also said that if Trump remains off the ballot it will make his supporters “angry and frustrated and justifiably so” with the democratic process, at a press conference in Utah touting his place on the state's ballot in November.

Kennedy also has his own challenges gaining ballot access, which is often an expensive and legally complicated process for third-party candidates. The president of the super PAC supporting Kennedy has also drawn comparisons between legal challenges to Trump staying on ballots and Kennedy.

“We don’t need to be protected from a candidate by this sort of anti-democratic set of forces that is gaining traction in this country,” said Tony Lyons, president of American Values 2024, on The Sharyl Attkisson Podcast after the Maine decision. “Whether it’s Bobby Kennedy or Donald Trump or Joe Biden, it’s a direction that’s obviously bad for democracy.”

Kennedy said he aims to be on the ballot in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., which means navigating 51 different legal procedures, all with different deadlines and requirements. Utah's deadline was the earliest, so it was the first target for the campaign.

The campaign is also actively gathering signatures in the swing state of Arizona, where campaign press secretary Stefanie Spear said the state’s electors have been certified, as well as Missouri, Maryland and Nevada.

Kennedy has also hired a team of lawyers, including campaign counsel Paul Rossi, who successfully sued the state of Utah to extend its signature gathering deadline from Jan. 6 to March 5.

American Values 2024 has also committed up to $15 million to help Kennedy gain access in seven states, including the swing state of Georgia.

An independent candidate pulling even single-digit support can disrupt typical election strategies, but Kennedy also floated the idea that he could win the presidency with minority support at the Utah press conference on Wednesday.

“You could technically win the election with 34 percentage points because it’s winner take all,” Kennedy said. “So all we have to do is take 4.5 percentage points from each President Trump and President Biden to win the national election, and I have 11 months to do that.”

Kennedy’s polling average is currently about 13 percent, according to RealClearPolitics.

"I’m very, very confident that that’s going to happen,” he said.