Robert Kennedy Jr. won’t have sway over oil and gas policy in a future Trump administration, former President Donald Trump said Wednesday.
Kennedy, a Trump ally and former Democrat, previously worked for decades as an environmental lawyer. Kennedy has been a prominent Trump surrogate since he dropped his own presidential bid. Trump and Kennedy have both signaled that Kennedy is poised for a prominent role if Trump wins the White House.
“He wants to make our country so healthy,” Trump said Wednesday at a rally in North Carolina. “And he’s a great guy.”
Kennedy said Monday that Trump has promised him “control” of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, according to a video obtained by POLITICO.
“He also has a big thing on the environment,” Trump said Wednesday of Kennedy.
“I’ll tell you what, I said: ‘That’s OK, but you can’t touch our liquid gold,’” Trump said. “He’s very strong on, you know, the pesticides and all of the different things.”
“He says, ‘We’re going to make it a healthy country.’ I said, ‘Good, Bobby, but do me one favor: Don’t touch the oil and gas. Let me handle that. I’ll handle the oil and gas.’ We’re not going to let him get involved,” Trump said.
Some of the most prominent national environmental groups earlier this year publicly disavowed Kennedy, who was running for president as an independent candidate at that time. The groups called Kennedy a “dangerous conspiracy theorist and science denier” who could pave the way for Trump to return to office.
