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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has publicly disclosed that he is being investigated by the National Marine Fisheries Institute over a decades-old story involving the decapitation of a dead whale. Kennedy’s comments came during a campaign event for former President Donald Trump, where he described the investigation as a politically motivated effort to undermine him.
The controversy stems from a story first shared by Kennedy’s daughter, Kick Kennedy, in a 2012 interview with Town and Country Magazine. According to Kick, her father, in the early 1990s, removed the head from a beached whale and transported the skull on the roof of their car from Massachusetts to Mount Kisco, New York. She described the ordeal as involving a strong odor and the use of plastic bags to mitigate the smell, with passing drivers reacting negatively.
A left-leaning environmental organization called the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund has brought the incident back to life and called for an inquiry. The group contends that the whale was imported and owned illegally. The whale is a marine mammal that is protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and may also be covered by the Endangered Species Act. They argue that the event might have violated the 1900 Lacey Act, which forbids the transportation of wildlife when it is against the law.
Kennedy, who withdrew from the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Trump just days before the story resurfaced, decried the investigation as an example of government overreach against political adversaries. “I received a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Institute saying that they were investigating me for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago,” Kennedy said, framing it as part of a broader pattern of political harassment.
Kennedy has faced a number of PR difficulties in the past, including one in which he acknowledged to having disposed of a dead bear’s corpse in Central Park, New York City, more than ten years ago. Now, he faces yet another problem. The continued examination is a reflection of the political unrest and the growing convergence of environmental concerns with political themes.