Robert F Kennedy Jr. Under Federal Investigation Over Beheading Whale With Chainsaw — No, Really

AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. blasted the “weaponization of government” as he faces a federal investigation over beheading a whale with a chainsaw.

The incident in question occurred in 1994, when Kennedy Jr. reportedly decapitated a whale carcass on a beach near Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. His daughter, Kick Kennedy, later recounted in a 2012 interview that her father used a chainsaw to remove the whale’s head and strapped it to their family minivan for the five-hour drive to New York.

The story resurfaced during his independent candidacy for president following the revelations that he collected roadkill and that he had left a dead six-month-old female bear cub in New York City’s Central Park almost a decade ago.

After the whale story, however, environmental groups urged federal authorities to investigate whether Kennedy Jr. violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act. If it’s found that he did, he could face civil or criminal penalties.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the relevant federal regulatory agency, confirmed on Monday that it had launched its investigation.

At an Arizona event in support of former President Donald Trump, who Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the race to endorse, he said: “I received a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Institute saying that they were investigating me for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago. This is all about the weaponization of our government against political opponents.”