As Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign pulled back from public view in recent months, a group close to former President Donald Trump was working behind the scenes to pull him into their corner.
Donald Trump Jr., the former president's eldest son; Tucker Carlson, the influential right-wing commentator, who spoke at Trump's convention; and Omeed Malik, a business executive and donor who has contributed to both Trump’s and Kennedy’s campaigns this election cycle, have been working behind the scenes to persuade Kennedy to end his independent bid for the White House and endorse Trump, according to two sources familiar with the efforts.
The conversations began about a week before the Republican National Convention last month — the start of a historically disruptive stretch of the election. Within a matter of days, a would-be assassin wounded Trump at a rally, Trump selected a running mate, and President Joe Biden left the race, starting a new chapter in the contest.
Now, Kennedy is planning to suspend his campaign Friday and throw his support to Trump, two sources familiar with his plans told NBC News, though they noted that talks are ongoing.
Kennedy announced earlier Wednesday that he would be speaking at an event in Phoenix on Friday. Trump is set to host his own event in nearby Glendale, Arizona, later in the day with Turning Point PAC and Turning Point Action, closely allied conservative groups.
Trump and Kennedy spoke over the phone on the Sunday before the convention started and then met in person Monday. At the time, Kennedy said the meeting was to discuss national unity.
While the discussions between Trump's allies and the Kennedy campaign started before Biden dropped out, they intensified afterward with the election in flux. When Vice President Kamala Harris took over as the Democratic presidential candidate, support for third-party candidates dropped, with more voters picking a major-party contender than they had in the Biden-Trump matchup.
Trump Jr., Carlson and Malik each held a series of meetings and calls with each candidate to negotiate an exit and endorsement by Kennedy. Polling also played a factor in the push when numbers revealed Kennedy's support would take support away from Trump, said one of the sources, who was briefed on the discussions.
A pact between Trump and Kennedy is an outcome Democrats — including some other Kennedys — have been predicting for some time. Jack Schlossberg, President John F. Kennedy’s grandson, told NBC News on Wednesday that he “wouldn’t be surprised if he was working for President Trump at some point or in the past.”
“I think it’s clear that their interests align,” Schlossberg said.
The behind-the-scenes lobbying effort targeting Kennedy was in stark contrast to Kennedy's actual campaign activity during that time.
Though he appeared at conferences and other events, his campaign essentially stopped putting on its own public events. His poll numbers receded, debt piled up in his campaign account, problems cropped up getting on the ballot in some states, and a string of negative stories about his past distracted from his efforts to win votes.
Then Kennedy’s running mate and biggest donor, Nicole Shanahan, said in a podcast interview that the ticket was considering two options — to stay in the race and “risk” a Harris-Walz presidency or to “join forces” with Trump.
"Technically, we could win," Shanahan said on “Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu."
But, she said, "we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and Walz presidency, because we draw votes from Trump or we draw somehow more votes from Trump."
