Trump does Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as ‘not a serious candidate’, but admits ‘he could hurt me’

Former President Donald Trump has rejected an independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.and labeled him “not a serious candidate” due to his low voting figures.

What happened: Trump was asked about the possibility of debating Kennedy while in New York City for his hush money trial. He responded that Kennedy was “not a serious candidate” and that his voting numbers were too low to merit a debate, The Hill reported.

“Look, RFK scores very low, he is not a serious candidate. They say he’s hurting Biden; I don’t know who he’s hurting, maybe he’s hurting me, I don’t know. But he has very low numbers, certainly not numbers with which he can debate. He’s got to get his numbers a lot higher before he’s credible,” Trump said.

Despite claiming to have limited knowledge of Kennedy, Trump has attacked him in posts on Truth Social over the past week. Kennedy responded to Trump’s comments, praising him as the “most skilled debater in modern American political history” and challenging him to a debate.

Recent polls show that Trump has a slight lead over president Joe Biden when Kennedy enters the race. However, an NBC News poll showed Biden leading Trump by two points when Kennedy and other third-party candidates were included. In a head-to-head battle against Biden, Trump emerges victorious.

Related: Trump says if the Supreme Court decides the president doesn’t get immunity, Biden ‘will be prosecuted for all his crimes’

The Trump campaign has asked the Commission on Presidential Debate to move the debate to an earlier date than the scheduled date in September. The CPD announced this week that the first debate, scheduled for September 16, “will be the first ever televised general election debate.”

Why it matters: Kennedy has previously claimed he is the only candidate who can beat Trump and urged President Biden to withdraw from the race. Despite trailing Biden by 30 points in recent polls, Kennedy has proposed a ‘No Spoiler Pledge’ for Biden, which would require Biden to withdraw from the race if he underperforms Kennedy in a head-to-head poll with Trump in mid-October.

Trump has previously attacked Kennedy, labeling him a “radical left liberal” and declaring that a vote for Kennedy would amount to a “wasted protest vote.” According to polls, Kennedy could potentially take more votes away from Trump than from President Biden.

With the 2024 election approaching, polls indicate a close race between Biden and Trump. The inclusion of Kennedy and other third-party candidates could potentially impact the final outcome.

Photo via Shutterstock

Read next: Trump says he had a ‘bad experience’ with Netanyahu during Qassem Soleimani incident: ‘He quit