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Republican nominee Donald J. Trump has added pro-crypto politician Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to his presidential transition team, granting his former political rival influence over his potential administration’s policies.
Kennedy, a one-time political adversary of Trump, will co-chair the Republican Party’s would-be transition team alongside ex-Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, Kennedy said Monday in an interview with Tucker Carlson. The former third-party candidate effectively dropped out of the U.S. 2024 presidential election last week, crossing political aisles to endorse Trump’s bid to retake the White House.
“I’ve been asked to go on the transition team, you know, and to help pick the people who will be running the government,” Kennedy said in the interview, which was broadcast on X (formerly Twitter).
The move was confirmed Tuesday by Trump senior advisor Brian Hughes in a statement, according to Reuters.
Kennedy “suspended” his campaign on Friday, throwing his weight behind his political challenger Trump. Ahead of the move, political analysts mulled the potential impact it would have on crypto.
However, the presidential hopeful applied to appear on the ballot in Kentucky shortly after the reported suspension of his campaign, Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams said Monday in an X post. As of this Tuesday, he also remains on the ballot in Colorado, the Colorado Sun reported.
RFK Jr. is adamant that he is not completely terminating his presidential run, which some viewed as an obstacle to Trump’s bid to court single-issue crypto voters in what’s likely to be a tight election.
A representative for RFK Jr. did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Decrypt.
Kennedy has increasingly embraced Bitcoin and blockchain technology over the past year, attending BTC mining events and speaking at major industry conferences. In June, Kennedy delivered a keynote address at Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, vowing to sign an executive order that would direct the U.S. Treasury to amass a reserve of $4 million in Bitcoin.
The scion of one of the most prominent political families in American history has publicly commented that he perceives the token as “an exit from the inflation highway” and the key to “tak[ing] control away from the government,” emphasizing its potential role in economic policy.
Kennedy also called Bitcoin an “honest currency.”