Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Apologizes To Former Babysitter Who Accused Him Of Assaulting Her

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. texted an apology to his family’s former babysitter, Eliza Cooney, who accused him of assault.

In a Vanity Fair article, Cooney claimed that Kennedy engaged in inappropriate behavior in the 1990s, like rubbing her leg, reading her diary, asking her to rub lotion on his back, trapping her against the pantry door and groping her on different occasions.

Reporters confirmed that the texts came from the independent presidential candidate’s cellphone number using TLOxp, a service offering public and proprietary data.

“Hey Eliza,” he wrote in his first text to Eliza, which was sent on July 10. “It’s Bobby Kennedy. I hope you are well. Please call me if you have a moment.”

Kennedy followed up on Thursday with a second message, saying he had no memory of the supposed assault but still stated that he feels regret if he caused Cooney harm.

“Hey, Eliza,” he said in the message. “I tried to reach you by phone, but I’d prefer to say this in person.” 

“I read your description of an episode in which I touched you in an unwanted manner,” he added. “I have no memory of this incident but I apologize sincerely for anything I ever did that made you feel uncomfortable or anything I did that offended you or hurt your feelings. I never intended you any harm. If I hurt you, it was inadvertent. I feel badly for doing so.”

“If you feel comfortable, I’d like to tell you this by phone, and preferably, face to face,” he also mentioned. “I recognize that this might not be possible. I have no agenda for sending this text other than making the most sincere earnest amends.”

Cooney said Kennedy’s text-based apology felt insincere.

“It was disingenuous and arrogant,” she told the Washington Post. “I’m not sure how somebody has a true apology for something that they don’t admit to recalling. I did not get a sense of remorse. And as far as Kennedy’s suggestion to meet in person to discuss he matter.”

“Meet ‘face to face,'” she asked. “What woman wants to do that?”

Cooney described the conflict in her journal, in which she thought about Kennedy’s intentions. 

“It seemed like he thought I was somebody else or wasn’t paying attention,” she had written at the time. “Like he would come to every once in a while and snap out of it, or I would move away. It was like he was on something, really tired, missing Mary, or testing me.”

The former babysitter also opened up about two other moments of the candidate’s alleged inappropriate behavior, such as a situation in which he approached her from behind, placed his hands on her hips and then caressed the sides of her breasts.

“I remember being like, ‘Oh my God, what is even happening right now?'” Cooney said to the Post. “It’s very much like being quiet because you’re hiding from somebody under the bed or something, you know? That’s how I felt.” 

Cooney said that she was nervous about leaving her job, worried that she would never achieve her dream career.

“I felt as though if I walked away, all the investment I put in would be for naught,” she admitted. “It was my first job. I didn’t want that to be a failure. And it was for Bobby Kennedy, who was at the time a prominent environmental lawyer, which was the work I wanted to go into.”

Cooney never went further with an environmental litigation career.

Kennedy’s campaign has been marked by missteps. 

In April, Kennedy’s campaign spokesperson, Stephanie Spear, stated that a fundraising email calling the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot defendants “activists” was an error.

These emails, which were sent to the candidate’s supporters, called WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a “political prisoner” and implied that he and Capitol rioters had been victims of an “outrageous miscarriage of justice.”