Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. offered praise for former President Trump’s plan to fund his transition on his own, arguing it is something that’s never been done before.
‘Normally, the transition team is not created until Nov. 6th because GAO, the General Accounting Office, pays for all the cost of the transition team. Trump said, ‘I’m not going to do it this time. I’m not going to do it their way. I’m going tostart my own transition team three months early.’ And he got private donors to fund it,’ Kennedy said during a Trump-Vance campaign event over the weekend.
The comments come after Trump appeared on the popular Joe Rogan podcast where he discussed some of the mistakes he made during his first run for president in 2016, including putting people in positions he would later regret putting on his team.
This time around, Trump began the process of privately funding his transition early, hoping to learn from his experience and hit the ground running with a plan if he secures an election victory.
Trump has faced a wave of criticism over the last week for comments made by some former officials in his administration, with former Trump chief of staff John Kelly saying in an interview with the New York Times that his former boss met the definition of a fascist and at times offered praise for German dictator Adolf Hitler.
Trump has denied the praise for Hitler and fired back at Kelly, calling his former chief of staff a ‘lowlife’ in response to the interview.
Trump announced in August that Kennedy, who dropped his independent bid for president and endorsed the former president this year, would be added to his transition team along with former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who crossed party lines to support Trump in 2024.
Kennedy argued that such a broad group of supporters assisting in the transition would be an asset if Trump were to win the election.
‘There’s people of all different kinds of ideology and people who we’re going to have to go up against on that transition team and fight for our vision,’ Kennedy said. ‘But I can tell you this, which is unique: There are no corporate lobbyists on that transition team. And usually it’s 100% corporate lobbyists. So it’s very, very different, and it gives me lots of hope that this government is going to be different than any government we’ve ever seen.’