RFK Jr. at Center of Babysitter’s Sex Assault Claims: Prez Candidate Accused of ‘Groping’ and ‘Sliding’ Hands Along College Grad’s ‘Rib Cage and Breasts’
Kennedy was accused of sexually assaulting his children’s babysitter in 1998.
Jul. 2 2024, Published 9:47 a.m. ET
Robet F. Kennedy Jr., 70, has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who worked as a babysitter for his children when she was a 23-year-old recent college graduate in 1998, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Eliza Cooney, now 48, opened up about her experience in a bombshell new exposé published by Vanity Fair on Tuesday morning, the same exposé that brought up animal cruelty concerns by unearthing a photo of the presidential candidate posing with the barbecued remains of a dog.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was accused of “reveling in animal cruelty” this week after a damning photo captured the third-party presidential candidate posing with the barbecued remains of a dog.
In the fall of 1998, Cooney moved into Mount Kisco, New York home that Kennedy shared with his then-wife Mary Richardson to take care of their kids and assist with Kennedy's environmental law clinic at Pace University during the week. One night, during a meeting in the kitchen with Kennedy and a volunteer at his Riverkeeper nonprofit named Murray Fisher, she said she felt Kennedy touching her leg.
"From everything everybody says about the Kennedys + their Babysitters, they had me worried," Cooney wrote in a diary entry dated November 7, 1998. "Like I have to watch out, be careful. And the other night in the kitchen w/ Murray I could have sworn he was touching my leg + hand. It seemed like he thought I was somebody else or wasn’t paying attention. Like he would come to every once in a while and snap out of it or I would move away. It was like he was on something or really tired or was missing Mary or was testing me."
"In the back of my mind, I was hoping it wasn’t what it actually was," Cooney said.
Cooney claimed that Kennedy put his hands on her hips and slid them up along her rib cage and breasts.
Several weeks later, Cooney claimed she found Kennedy standing in her bedroom. Her diary was open next to her her bed, and Kennedy, then 45, asked her to rub lotion on his back.
"I thought, 'Isn’t Mary home? Doesn’t she do this for you?'" she recalled, but reluctantly agreed and did it quickly. "It was totally inappropriate," she said.
After that incident, she said she stopped recording her experiences with Kennedy in her diary because she feared he might read it.
"My back was to the door of the pantry, and he came up behind me," she said. "I was frozen. Shocked."
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Months later, Cooney said she was looking through the kitchen pantry for lunch, still wearing a sports bra and leggings after a yoga class, when Kennedy walked up behind her, blocked her in the room, and began groping her.
Cooney claimed that Kennedy put his hands on her hips and slid them up along her rib cage and breasts. "My back was to the door of the pantry, and he came up behind me," she said. "I was frozen. Shocked."
According to Cooney, Kennedy was interrupted when a male worker entered the kitchen, announcing his presence by saying something like, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” or “Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want your wife to know about.”
Kennedy has so far refused to drop out of this year’s general election race.
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Cooney kept working for Kennedy for a few more months but said the experience damaged her confidence and discouraged her from pursuing environmental work. At the end of her diary, Cooney included a list of things “to leave behind in 1999,” with “bad men” at the top.
She didn't tell anyone what had happened until the #MeToo movement began in 2017 and she decided to tell her mother, Holly Cooney. "Was I horrified? Of course. Was I surprised? Not really," Holly said. "And not because of the Kennedy name as much as knowing what the culture was, especially in the world of privilege. I remember when we talked about it the first time, she was agonizing over how public she felt she was ready to go."
Although Cooney consulted with a lawyer last year, Kennedy ultimately decided not to bring a civil suit against Kennedy. She said she only felt compelled to speak up publicly now because of his presidential campaign.
The new Vanity Fair report also exposed shocking claims about Kennedy’s alleged serial cheating, sex addiction, and a diary in which he recorded his sexual consequents.
The new Vanity Fair report also exposed shocking claims about Kennedy’s alleged serial cheating, sex addiction, and a diary in which he recorded his sexual consequents.
The third-party presidential candidate has struggled to gain ground against Joe Biden and Donald Trump in this year’s race for the White House.
While Kennedy has refused to drop out of the race, his closest family members have come out in support of President Biden over their own brother.
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