RFK Jr. is Not a 'Serious Candidate' and Needs to Get His Numbers 'Higher Before He's Credible,' Says Trump
May 2 2024, Published 7:15 p.m. ET
Former president Donald Trump scoffed at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s longshot presidential campaign, dismissing the notion he should set up a debate with the independent candidate.
"I don't know anything about him," Trump told reporters while taking questions before leaving his hush money trial in Manhattan, RadarOnline.com has learned.
"Look, RFK is polling very low. He's not a serious candidate," the embattled GOP frontrunner continued. "They say he hurts Biden. I don't know who he hurts. He might hurt me. I don't know."
A recent NBC News poll found that RFK Jr.'s candidacy hurts Trump more than Biden, who said during a recent Howard Stern interview that he would gladly debate Trump.
Approximately twice as many initial Trump supporters as Biden supporters chose RFK Jr. in their five-way ballot test, according to the poll.
Kennedy initially challenged Biden for the Democratic nomination before dropping out of the race and switching gears with his independent bid.
Trump said RFK Jr. would need to perform better if he wants to be viewed as a legit candidate, stating that he has "very low numbers, certainly not numbers that he can debate with."
"And he's gotta get his numbers up a lot higher before he's credible," Trump added. "But the numbers, the numbers that he's taking away, they say will be against Biden. I don't know. I'm not so sure. Could be a little bit against me, but I don't see him as a factor."
As for his own numbers, Trump said, "The polls are extremely good." After court wrapped for the day, he told the press, "The best we've ever had and it looks like we're doing very well."
Trump's criminal trial is underway and will be spanning several weeks.
The 2024 hopeful has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records following an investigation into an alleged hush money payment made to former adult film star Stormy Daniels while he was a presidential candidate in 2016.
Trump has continued to slam the hush money indictment as "political persecution," denying wrongdoing while accusing Judge Juan M. Merchan of being crooked and the trial of being rigged.
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More recently, the judge overseeing Trump's hush money trial fined the former president $9,000 for contempt of court and said he would consider "incarceratory punishment" if he continued to violate a gag order.