Kennedy Consulted With Scandal P.R. Firm While Seeking Cabinet Nomination

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/01/nyregion/kennedy-lively-baldoni-smear-campaign.html

Kennedy Consulted With Scandal P.R. Firm While Seeking Cabinet Nomination
An associate of the firm, which has been accused of running a smear campaign against the actress Blake Lively, promised to suppress negative stories about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., records show.
By Debra Kamin and Santul Nerkar
May 1, 2026

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was seeking the nomination to become health secretary, he consulted with a crisis communications firm that has been accused of running a smear campaign against the actress Blake Lively, according to records unsealed on Friday in Manhattan federal court.

The records show that a strategist associated with the firm, The Agency Group, promised in late 2024 to help suppress negative stories about Mr. Kennedy, boost positive ones and create an algorithm “to manage concerns” related to negative publicity.

The records include a deposition that quotes an email from the strategist, Jed Wallace, to a TAG executive in which Mr. Wallace explicitly describes pushing positive stories and burying negative ones about Mr. Kennedy. The same email also noted that Mr. Wallace believed positive coverage might draw the attention of President Trump.

“I need to be able to throw a ton of upvotes at the stuff that is rah rah rah for him, especially in conservative circles where it might get back to DJT,” the email said. In the same message, he added that he needed to “downvote everything that’s acting as a drag on him as part of our mandate.”

At the time, Mr. Kennedy had abandoned a bid to become president and was facing questions about his past behavior. He had earlier admitted to leaving a dead bear cub in Central Park, said that a parasitic worm had eaten part of his brain and been accused of once being photographed eating a barbecued dog.

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