'Epitome of corruption': RFK Jr.'s campaign accuses Nevada of 'inventing' signature rules, threatens lawsuit

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign is threatening to sue Nevada, claiming its secretary of state, Democrat Francisco Aguilar, has concocted new signature rules to prevent the independent presidential candidate from appearing on the state's ballot.

A Monday press release from Kennedy's campaign accused the Democratic National Committee of trying to "invalidate" the presidential run, claiming that the collected signatures could not be used because Kennedy did not name a vice president.

"Just one week after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he had collected all of the signatures needed to get on the ballot in Nevada, it was reported the DNC had hired an entire team devoted to keeping him off the ballot across the country," it read.

According to the campaign, Aguilar is "making a desperate attempt to invalidate the campaign's signatures in the state."

The New York Post reported that since 1993, Nevada law has required independent candidates to select a vice president before collecting signatures for ballot access. Kennedy could be forced to start from scratch, collecting more than 10,000 signatures.

Kennedy campaign ballot access attorney Paul Rossi called the move "the epitome of corruption."

"After successfully collecting all of the signatures we need in Nevada, the DNC Goon Squad and their lackeys in the Nevada Secretary of State's office are outright inventing a new requirement for the petition with zero legal basis. The Nevada statute does not require the VP on the petition. The petition does not even have a field for a VP on it. The state confirmed that the petition does not require a VP in writing on Nov. 14. The state approved our petition without a VP on it in writing on Jan. 9," Rossi explained.

"This assault on the democratic rights of millions of Americans in Nevada, and their freedom to vote for an independent candidate, embodies the corruption and depravity that has come to characterize the Democratic Party," he added.

Rossi accused the DNC of attempting to rig the election against Kennedy as it did in the 2016 primary election against Bernie Sanders.

"This is the party that canceled its own primary elections in multiple states this year and decreed Biden the winner without a vote," Rossi continued. "The DNC is spending millions of dollars in a frantic attempt to keep Kennedy off the ballot because they cannot defeat us in a fair election. They cannot face us in a contest of ideas. These are the death throes of a party that once stood for working people but has long since abandoned them to Wall Street, Big Pharma, Big Tech, and the endless war machine. The Democratic Party is the biggest threat to democracy in this country."

The campaign's press release linked to an email exchange with the Nevada Secretary of State's Office. When asked whether the vice presidential candidate must be listed on the petition forms, an employee responded, "No."

The office acknowledged that the employee provided incorrect information to the Kennedy campaign, CBS News reported.

In a statement to the news outlet, the secretary of state's office said, "Earlier today it was brought to the attention of our office that a Secretary of State employee had provided inaccurate guidance to an independent presidential campaign. This was an error, and will be handled appropriately. In no way was the initial error or subsequent statutory guidance made with intent to benefit or harm any political party or candidate for office."

"When a government agency communicates with a member of the public and gives an unclear or incorrect answer to a question, Nevada courts have been clear that the agency is not permitted to honor the employee's statements if following those statement[s] would be in conflict with the law," the statement added.

The Kennedy campaign called for the dispute with the Nevada secretary of state to be settled by a federal judge.

Kennedy plans to announce his running mate in Oakland, California, on Tuesday. Media outlets report that he intends to designate attorney and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan.

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