RFK Jr's former classmate accuses him of selling cocaine at Harvard amid controversial Trump endorsement
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS: Robert F Kennedy Jr is facing serious allegations from a former Harvard classmate who claims he sold cocaine during their university days. This explosive accusation was made by best-selling author Kurt Andersen in a searing column for The Atlantic on Friday, August 23.
On the very day, RFK Jr, who had initially entered the race as an Independent candidate after leaving the Democratic Party, suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
RFK Jr allegedly sold cocaine for $40 during Harvard days
Kurt Andersen, who alleges he was a Harvard freshman in the 1970s, claims he purchased cocaine from Robert F Kennedy Jr and his brother, Joseph P Kennedy II, for $40 during their college days.
"Sometime during my freshman year, I tried cocaine, enjoyed it, and later decided to procure a gram for myself," said the 'Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America' writer, adding, "A friend told me about a kid in our class who was selling coke. The dealer was Bobby Kennedy."
Describing a shady transaction, Andersen recounts being led to RFK Jr's Hurlbut dorm room, which the nephew of former Democratic President John F Kennedy shared with future journalist Peter Kaplan, where the future political figure allegedly dispensed a line of cocaine using a plastic straw.
The author further claimed, "[RFK Jr.] poured out a line for me to sample, and handed me an inch-and-a-half length of plastic drinking straw. I snorted. We chatted for a minute. I paid him, I believe, $40 in cash. It was a lot of money, the equivalent of $300 today. But cocaine bought from a Kennedy accompanied by a Kennedy brother—the moment of glamour seemed worth it."
Andersen asserted that RFK Jr demanded the return of the straw used in the transaction after he accidentally took it with him. "I walked it back to his room. He didn’t smile or say thanks. It was the last time I ever bought coke from anyone," noted the former classmate.
RFK Jr's troubled past reemerges after he endorses Donald Trump
The timing of these allegations is particularly scathing, coinciding with Robert F Kennedy Jr's endorsement of Donald Trump—a move that has already drawn significant controversy.
Andersen voiced his concern that if Trump, who has advocated for severe penalties against drug dealers, becomes president, it would cast a long shadow over RFK's role in supporting his campaign.
"If [Trump] becomes president as Kennedy is now working to make happen, wants to start executing drug dealers. He said so in a speech as president in 2018," wrote the author, adding, "He said it again in 2022 when he announced his current candidacy."
Andersen ended his piece with a question to his former Harvard classmate: "The candidate you’re campaigning for, in whose administration you apparently intend to serve, wants our laws rewritten so that drug dealers, particularly those who sell narcotics, face capital punishment. Given that you sold cocaine in your youth, how do you feel about his advocacy of a regime that might have resulted in your own execution at age 19?"
The book 'Robert F. Kennedy Jr and the Dark Side of the Dream' details the environmental lawyer's past, which has long been marred by allegations of "compulsions and addictions."
From early marijuana use at age 14 to a heroin overdose in his late twenties, RFK Jr's history of substance abuse has been well-documented. His arrest for marijuana possession on Cape Cod in 1970 and subsequent heroin charges reveal a troubled trajectory that has followed him into the political arena.
