No, RFK Jr did not end news conference when asked if he was confused | Fact check

Nate Trela, USA TODAY
·3 min read
27

The claim: Video shows RFK Jr. ending news conference abruptly after being asked if he was confused

A July 22 post on Threads (direct link, archive link) shows a video of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stuttering and abruptly ending a news conference after being asked if he was confused.

“Is RFK Jr. OK?” reads the post's caption.

The post was reposted more than 300 times in eight days. The same user also shared the video on Instagram.

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Our rating: Altered

The video was edited to make it appear as if Kennedy ended the conference abruptly. Full footage of the news conference shows Kennedy occasionally stuttering but answering questions and continuing to speak coherently for several minutes after being asked by a reporter if he was confused.

Video deceptively edited

Kennedy’s health has been the subject of attention throughout his campaign, according to The New York Times. In a 2012 deposition, he claimed to be dealing with memory loss and “cognitive problems,” while also acknowledging that part of a dead parasite had been found in his brain.

But his campaign told USA TODAY in May that he no longer experiences cognitive problems. The video in the Threads post appears to contradict this, but it is not authentic. It has been edited to portray Kennedy as confused.

The footage stems from a July 21 news conference Kennedy held at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election.

The full video posted by PBS shows Kennedy speaking and answering questions for 25 minutes. The edited video shows the moment when a reporter says Kennedy’s answers gave the impression that he was unaware Biden had dropped out of the race, then asks him if he was confused.

The edited video shows Kennedy abruptly ending the news conference at that point, but the full video of the conference shows he answered the question by saying his references to Biden during the conference were because he believed Vice President Kamala Harris would adopt the president’s policies in her own campaign. In all, he spoke for about seven additional minutes after that question.

Fact check: Image shows RFK's 'debate' moderator, not JFK Jr.

The video also highlights Kennedy’s stuttering at points in the news conference, making him appear to struggle to complete – or even start – sentences. The footage of Kennedy stuttering is authentic and can be found throughout the full video of the event, but the scenes are stitched together to make the moments appear almost constant.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the claim for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

AFP also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kennedy news conference video deceptively edited | Fact check

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