Former President Donald Trump will add Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to his transition team, giving two former Democrats prominent perches from which they could help shape the Trump administration.
Trump’s decision to add Kennedy and Gabbard, first reported by The New York Times, comes after the former Democratic presidential hopefuls endorsed his campaign in recent days.
“President Trump’s broad coalition of supporters and endorsers expands across partisan lines, we are proud that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard have been added to the Trump/Vance Transition team,” Brian Hughes, a Trump senior advisor, said in a statement. “We look forward to having their powerful voices on the team was we work to restore America’s greatness.”
Kennedy’s addition is particularly notable given that he and Trump sparred on the campaign trail before the noted vaccine skeptic abandoned his long-shot third-party presidential campaign.
“Don’t waste any Republican or Conservative votes on Junior.’ He’s one of the most Liberal Lunatics ever to run for office,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform, in May.
Trump and his allies stepped up attacks on Kennedy after polling began to show that Kennedy might cut into Trump’s support. Kennedy once said that if he debated Trump, he would “show how President Trump betrayed the hopes of his most sincere followers.”
“He promised to end the Ukraine war and then colluded with Speaker Johnson and President Biden to fund it,” Kennedy wrote on X. “He let Big Pharma and his corrupt bureaucrats run roughshod over him as President. He promised to cut the deficit and ran up the biggest debt in history.”
Gabbard, who briefly ran in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, was also critical of Trump before drifting away from the Democratic Party in recent years. In 2018, Gabbard blasted Trump’s closeness to Saudi Arabia, writing on Twitter, “Being Saudi Arabia’s bitch is not ‘America First.'” At the time, Democrats in Congress were critical of the then-president’s closeness to Saudi Arabia after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
As he ended his third-party run on Friday, Kennedy said he and Trump disagreed on some major issues. He added that their alliance would be like President Lincoln’s famous “Team of Rivals,” referencing how Lincoln filled his Cabinet with previous political foes.
“In those meetings, he suggested that we join forces as a unity party,” Kennedy said, discussing his private conversations with Trump and his advisors that preceded the formal endorsement.
Kennedy first mentioned joining the transition during an interview Monday with Tucker Carlson. Trump announced his transition team earlier this month, appointing former SBA Administrator Linda McMahon and Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as its co-chairs. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican presidential nominee, and Trump’s oldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric, serve as honorary co-chairs
Trump’s team is hoping that by including the former Democrats, he can expand his appeal ahead of the November election. Vice President Kamala Harris gave prominent speaking slots at her convention to Republicans, including former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
It’s far from unprecedented for politicians to support someone they once criticized. President Joe Biden tapped Harris to be his running mate after Haris tore into his history on race relations. Trump picked Vice President Mike Pence to join him after Pence endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump’s 2016 primary foe.
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