For nearly two years, as members of the storied Kennedy family reluctantly went public to warn that their brother and cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was a dangerous man unfit for higher office, the one voice conspicuously missing was that of Caroline Kennedy, daughter of John F. Kennedy. The greater Kennedy family has long maintained a code of silence around family matters, whether a tragic death or a darker secret. Speaking out against one of their own would be verboten. As an ambassador to Australia in the Biden administration, Caroline Kennedy avoided speaking her views even privately to the press, declining comment when several of her cousins went on record with Vanity Fair to detail how RFK Jr.’s dark personal history collides with his political aspirations.
But on the brink of RFK Jr.’s possible confirmation to the head of Health and Human Services under Donald Trump’s new administration, Caroline Kennedy has finally gone public in a letter to the Senate nominating committee—plus an accompanying Instagram video–to describe her cousin as a “predator” who, despite overcoming heroin addiction, went on to “misrepresent, lie, and cheat his way through life.” (RFK Jr. did not respond to Vanity Fair, nor did his spokesperson, nor did Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary. An email to RFK Jr.’s personal account elicited an automated response: “Due to the volume of emails, RFK Jr. cannot read or respond to inquiries on this email.”)
Caroline Kennedy’s letter followed strident condemnations from The Wall Street Journal editorial page and The New York Post, both Murdoch publications. Stephen Kennedy Smith, Caroline’s cousin, tells Vanity Fair that Caroline sought his counsel before sending the letter. “This is a McCarthy moment,” he says he told her, “and somebody has got to tell the truth and show some guts.”
The word “predator” called to mind the allegations, first reported in Vanity Fair, from a former babysitter who says Kennedy sexually assaulted her in the late 1990s, when she was 23. Kennedy did not deny the allegations; he later publicly declared he was “not a church boy” and privately texted an apology to Eliza Cooney, the woman who came forward last year.
In early July of 2024, Cooney described to VF how Kennedy groped her in his own kitchen and had at other times seemed to stalk her in the house. “I imagine Ms. Kennedy chose her words carefully and intentionally when she used the word ‘predator,’” Cooney says now. “I experienced that side of him years ago. I fear that if he’s given the opportunity to lead an organization of more than 80,000 employees, other women may, too. I personally wouldn’t trust him with my health care or my daughter.”
She fears, however, that Caroline’s warning “is about six months too late.”
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