Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include NOAA’s response to Headline USA’s inquiry about the investigation.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that federal authorities have launched an investigation into his work involving whale specimens from more than two decades ago.
“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 on behalf of Trump in Arizona, as reported by Fox News.
“This is all about the weaponization of our government against political opponents,” he added, not specifying the exact date of the letter, simply saying it was received “this week.”
The probe is led by the National Marine Fisheries Service, an office within the Biden-led Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
NOAA spokesperson Kate Silver declined to address questions regarding the allegations of government weaponization and whether the probe was initiated, telling Headline USA on Tuesday morning that the agency does not comment on ongoing investigations.
The specific story prompting the investigation was first recounted in 2012 by RFK Jr.’s daughter, Kick Kennedy, in an interview with Town and Country magazine.
According to Kick, RFK Jr. traveled to Squaw Island, New York, after learning that a whale carcass had washed ashore. He then reportedly decapitated the whale and took a five-hour drive back to Mount Kisco, NY.
“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,” Kick told the magazine.
“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,” she added.
Following the re-emergence of this 2012 interview, the left-leaning Center for Biological Diversity demanded that NOAA investigate Kennedy.
NOAA did not respond to Headline USA’s inquiry about whether the investigation was prompted by the campaign of the leftist non-profit.
