‘The Campaign Is a Mess’: RFK Jr. Hit With Staff Exodus Over ‘Lavish Spending’ and ‘Amateurish’ Leadership

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign is in disarray amid an exodus of campaign workers who say disorganization

by Diana Falzone

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign is in disarray amid an exodus of campaign workers who say disorganization, lavish spending, amateurish leadership, and a severe disconnect between the campaign and the candidate’s values have led the long-shot bid for the presidency astray.

Fourteen members of Kennedy24 have resigned since the start of the year, including 12 field staff and two main staff, according to multiple sources who spoke with Mediaite on the condition of anonymity. One source close to the campaign pinned the turmoil on two leaders: Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, campaign manager and Kennedy’s daughter-in-law, and Del Bigtree, an anti-vaccine activist who serves as the campaign’s communications director.

The source described Fox Kennedy and Bigtree as “self-serving” operatives who were “making decisions based on their own personal advancement opportunities, and not acting in the best interest of the candidate.”

A major point of contention within the campaign has been the eye-watering payouts to campaign leadership revealed in FEC reports.

Bigtree’s firm KFP Consulting was paid $35,000 in December; it has made $90,000 off the campaign in total so far. Starlight Saint, the LLC registered to campaign COO Matthew Sanders, makes $21,000 a month. More Beautiful World, the LLC registered to campaign adviser Charles Eisenstein, made $21,667 a month in October, November, and December 2023.

“When the reports came out and everyone saw the obscene amount of money some people are making, while they are often paying for their own promotional materials out of pocket and can’t get their gas stipend covered, many people started thinking those people are scamming and skimming to line their pockets,” one campaign worker said. “This is out of alignment with the message of the candidate.”

The source said “lavish” spending of Bigtree and others is also a “point of contention among campaign workers,” recalling one incident when Bigtree joined a Zoom call from a skiing resort.

“Del is running around spending money lavishly,” another source said. “He’s doing Zoom calls from the slopes with champagne while many people are volunteers and not getting paid.”

Fox Kennedy, meanwhile, “hired her nanny” Brigid Rasmussen as chief of staff, which was seen internally as a sign of incompetence for the director of a presidential campaign.

A second campaign worker also griped about the hiring of Fox Kennedy’s nanny as the campaign’s chief of staff. “Although Brigid is a nice young woman, she has no idea how to operate in her role and is inexperienced. This is merely one red flag that indicates incompetence,” they said.

“The campaign is not run like a business,” one source said. “There is no professional environment. It feels like a Spring Break party cruise. Del has been heard on multiple occasions saying, ‘We are like rock stars, and this is like being on tour with a rock band.’”

Fox Kennedy responded to this story in a statement: “With over a hundred staff members and tens of thousands of volunteers nationwide, Team Kennedy has great folks come and go depending on the needs of each phase of the campaign. As the most successful independent campaign of the last three decades, we wish them nothing but the best. NBC’s latest poll has RFK at 34% with nine months still ahead, and we are laser focused on delivering a historic victory for our country this November.”

Fox Kennedy took charge of the campaign in October, replacing Dennis Kucinich, the former Democratic congressman who exited amid concerns over his leadership.

One veteran political strategist who reviewed Mediaite’s reporting about the Kennedy campaign said the bloated consultant fees and small field operation (according to a source there were a total of 25 field staffers in January before the 12 resigned) indicates “this is not a serious campaign,” and Kennedy is “not serious about winning.” Instead, the source said, it suggests “they’re looking to line some pockets of consultants who are most likely looking to milk every penny of this campaign. Volunteers cannot put together a national campaign field operation.”

Mediaite reviewed several resignation letters from campaign workers who quit in the latest exodus. In one Jan. 15 letter from a staffer who has worked for several other campaigns, they addressed their concerns to Kennedy directly. The letter, which described the campaign as “the worst I’ve ever been a part of,”.

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