RFK Jr went on ‘dinosaur bone hunting’ with Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell: DOJ files
WASHINGTON, DC: Documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, released by the Justice Department on January 30, have confirmed that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. once went on a “dinosaur bone hunting” with the disgraced financier and Ghislaine Maxwell.
An email found in the massive trove of files shows the group traveled to the Dakotas together to search for fossils.
Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, RFK Jr's Dakota fossil hunt
The discovery came from an email exchanged in 2012, viewed by PEOPLE, in which Epstein told Maxwell about the fossil hunt he had been on.
In the August 2012 email sent to Maxwell, Epstein wrote, “Dinosaur and fossil hunting with paleontologist Jack Horner on the ranch, found 90 million year old clams and fossils. Right up your alley”
Maxwell replied by asking, “Love that - didn’t we go fossil hunting with him and Bobby Kennedy in N Dakota?”
Epstein confirmed the memory by replying, “Yes.”
Maxwell previously talked about this trip during an interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. The Department of Justice (DOJ) released the audio of that in 2025.
Although Maxwell claimed she could not recall specific flight details, she was certain of the acquaintance. When asked how she knew Kennedy, she explained, “Because we went on a trip together. … We went dinosaur bone hunting in the Dakotas.”
RFK Jr addresses 1990s flight records
While there is no specific flight record for the fossil trip, other logs show RFK Jr, now the Health and Human Services Secretary, and his family traveled on Epstein’s jet as far back as 1994.
RFK Jr addressed these trips during his 2023 presidential campaign, explaining that his wife at the time, Mary Richardson Kennedy, was the one who knew Maxwell.
He told reporters, "I was on Jeffrey Epstein's jet two times. I went to Florida with my wife and two children to visit my mom over Easter."
Regarding the second trip, he said, "I flew again with my family with, I think, four of my children and Mary, my wife, to Rapid City, South Dakota, to go fossil hunting for a weekend."
RFK Jr denies knowledge of Epstein's crimes
RFK Jr has been firm in stating that he had no idea about Epstein’s crimes at the time of these trips.
He told the media that these events happened "before anybody knew about Jeffrey Epstein's nefarious issues."
He insisted that aside from the plane rides and seeing each other at social events, he "had no relationship with" Epstein.
To clarify his involvement, he told NewsNation in early 2024, "I knew nothing about Jeffrey Epstein."
