RFK Jr. suspends presidential campaign, endorses GOP nominee Donald Trump

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday suspended his campaign, saying he will remove his name from the ballot in battleground states as he endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump .

Later Friday, the former Democrat appeared with Trump at the former president's rally in Glendale, Ariz.

At a press conference in Phoenix, Kennedy said , "I am not terminating my campaign -- I am simply suspending it and not ending it. My name will remain on the ballot in most states."

The former Democrat, however, is in the process of removing his name from the ballot in battleground states to avoid acting as a spoiler for Trump, whom he then endorsed over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris .

"Three great causes drove me to enter this race in the first place, primarily, and these are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump," he said.

Kennedy has approached the Trump campaign and the Harris campaigns seeking to trade his endorsement for a position in the White House, but said Aug. 15 he had no plans to endorse Harris after trying to get a meeting with her campaign. The disowned scion of the Democratic Party's most famous family said Friday he has been asked by Trump to work in his second administration.

"He suggested that we join forces as a unity party," he said. "We talked about Abraham Lincoln 's team of rivals, that arrangement would allow us to disagree publicly and privately and furiously, if need be, on issues over which we differ, while working together on the existential issues upon which we are in concordance."

Kennedy's campaign after he officially filed paperwork to drop out of the November election in Arizona.

He announced the moves before Trump held a rally in nearby Glendale, Ariz. Trump is now seeking to reverse the momentum behind Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as polls show they are expanding the map of competitive states.

If elected, Trump said he will ask Kennedy to work on a panel that would investigate "the decades-long increase in chronic health problems, including autoimmune disorders, autism, obesity, infertility, and many more."

Kennedy has disputed the safety and efficacy of vaccines, including the ones for COVID-19, which Trump spearheaded, calling it "one of the greatest achievements of mankind."

In turn, Kennedy praised Trump for sharing his views on "ending the chronic disease epidemic."

Kennedy asked the crowd, "Don't you want a president that's going to make America healthy again?" Kennedy asked the crowd, "Don't you want a president that's going to make America healthy again?"

The rally was at the same location, Desert Diamond Arena, where Harris and Walz appeared two weeks. In both instances, the Desert Diamond Arena the 17,000-seat arena has been filled.

Earlier in Las Vegas at a restaurant, Trump said: "I want to thank Bobby, that was very nice. He's a great guy, respected by everybody."

As they have before, members of Kennedy's family on Friday blasted his political maneuvers as a "betrayal" of his legacy.

"We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride," his sister Kerry Kennedy said in a statement co-signed by four other Kennedy siblings. "Our brother Bobby's decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story."

Kennedy has abandoned the Democratic party legacies of his assassinated father, former Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and uncle, President John Kennedy. He left the Democratic Party in October after first filing a statement of his candidacy for president as a Democrat in April.

In response to Kennedy's announcement, the Harris-Walz campaign on Friday urged his supporters to consider the Democratic ticket.

"For any American out there who is tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward, ours is a campaign for you," campaign Chair Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a statement. "In order to deliver for working people and those who feel left behind, we need a leader who will fight for you, not just for themselves, and bring us together, not tear us apart. Vice President Harris wants to earn your support.

"Even if we do not agree on every issue, Kamala Harris knows there is more that unites us than divides us: respect for our rights, public safety, protecting our freedoms, and opportunity for all," Dillon said.