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Quick Take
National Guard troops have been activated during past elections to assist with cybersecurity, processing votes and potential protests. But social media posts have made the unsupported claim that former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for the National Guard “at every voting station and ballot counting facility” on Election Day.
Full Story
Ahead of Election Day in 2020, 16 states called on National Guard members to assist with election cybersecurity, processing votes and crowd control, in expectation of protests to the election outcome. National Guard troops had also been used in the 2016 and 2018 elections, when they helped defend the election system from hackers.
In October, former President Donald Trump advocated the deployment of the National Guard or the U.S. military on Election Day 2024 to address what he described as “the enemy from within” and “radical left lunatics.” Federal law prohibits the use of the federal military personnel as a domestic policing force, but the National Guard, under the command of state governors, is exempt.
Social media users now have made the unsupported claim that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also thinks the National Guard should be activated in every state on Election Day.
The claim was originally shared on X on Oct. 19, where it received nearly 700,000 views according to the platform. The post read, “BREAKING: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Says, The National Guard should be deployed at every voting station and ballot counting facility to protect our elections.” The claim was posted on Threads by another user on Oct. 20.
Kennedy had been an independent candidate for president, but he suspended his campaign in August and endorsed Trump. In a speech to the National Guard Association, Trump said, “We’re very proud to welcome Bobby to our cause. He’s a really terrific guy.” Trump’s campaign later said Kennedy had joined the former president’s transition team.
But we haven’t been able to find any evidence that Kennedy made the statement in the social media posts or that he supports the deployment of National Guard troops to voting stations and ballot-counting centers.
The user who originally shared the claim to X has a history of fabricating quotes from Kennedy. On Oct. 21, the user quoted Kennedy as saying, “The 2020 Election was 100% stolen from Donald Trump.” But Kennedy has acknowledged President Joe Biden as the legitimate victor of the 2020 election.
In September, the same X account claimed that Kennedy called for Pride flags to be banned from government buildings. But we haven’t been able to find evidence that Kennedy made this statement, either. In the past, Kennedy has been supportive of marriage equality. In June 2023, while he was still campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, he said, “There will be nobody in the Oval Office who is more supportive of LGBQT rights.”
We reached out to Kennedy for comment on the social media posts, but we didn’t hear back.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.
Sources
Cooper, Jonathan J., et al. “RFK Jr. suspends his presidential bid and backs Donald Trump before appearing with him at his rally.” Associated Press. 23 Aug 2024.
Human Rights Campaign. Press release. “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Joins Calls for Marriage Equality in New York and Nationwide.” 27 Jan 2011.
Kim, Soo Rin, et al. “Trump adds RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard to his transition team.” ABC. 27 Aug 2024.
Marsh, Rene. “Ohio taps National Guard to defend election system from hackers.” CNN. 1 Nov 2016.
Mistich, Dave. “States Turn To National Guard To Protect Future Elections From Hackers.” NPR. 11 Apr 2018.
Mitchell, Ellen. “Here’s where the National Guard is activated on Election Day.” The Hill. 3 Nov 2020.
National Guard Bureau. “National Guard will support election in multiple states.” 2 Nov 2020.
News Nation. “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defends support of LGBTQ rights | RFK Jr. Town Hall.” Video. 29 Jun 2023.
Nunn, Joseph. “The Posse Comitatus Act Explained.” Brennan Center for Justice. 14 Oct 2021.
Rev. “Trump Speaks at National Guard Conference in Detroit.” Transcript. 27 Aug 2024.
Stracqualursi, Veronica. “Trump suggests using military against ‘enemy from within’ on Election Day.” 14 Oct 2024.
Wells, Dylan, et al. “Where the 2024 candidates stand on elections, democracy and Jan. 6.” Washington Post. 23 Aug 2023.
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