President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly no longer considering Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s daughter-in-law as a potential deputy director of the CIA.
Citing sources familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, The Washington Post reports that Trump has already dismissed Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, a former undercover CIA operative who’s married to Kennedy’s son Bob Kennedy III, as a contender for the role.
The decision reportedly arose from Republican lawmakers’ concerns that Fox Kennedy might push for major changes at the CIA. The sources added that pressure from Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas was particularly strong, and claimed that he lobbied Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles and others close to the president-elect to prevent Fox Kennedy’s selection.
The deputy director role is one of the most important roles at the CIA, and one of the most powerful positions in national security. However, its appointment does not require Senate confirmation, meaning that whoever Trump ends up selecting for the role would likely be the final pick.
Those apprehensive about Fox Kennedy were reportedly concerned over any relative of RFK Jr. getting too close to the CIA in general, particularly regarding past comments made by his uncle, former president John F. Kennedy. The 35th President of the United States famously declared that he wanted to “splinter” the CIA “into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds” following its failed 1961 attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro’s government in Cuba.
While Fox Kennedy has never expressed similar sentiments, a source familiar with the matter told The Post that Cotton and others were “concerned about getting Bobby Kennedy’s proxy in the building.”
Another person close to Cotton said that the senator was concerned over comments Fox Kennedy made on Al Jazeera in 2016, where she argued for the importance of trying to understand America’s enemies. “The only real way to disarm your enemy is to listen to them,” Fox Kennedy said at the time, which Cotton reportedly likened to sympathizing with terrorists.
Slated to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee next year, Cotton was not the only critic of Fox Kennedy, but was reportedly her “most strident,” according to the Post’s sources.
The CIA position is reportedly not the only role Trump is considering for Fox Kennedy, with sources familiar with the matter disclosing that he wants her in a national security position. The sources suspect Fox Kennedy could be in the running for a position at the White House National Security Council, or at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence instead.
Spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition, Karoline Leavitt, told The Post in a statement that, “President-Elect Trump continues to make decisions on who will serve in his second Administration. Those decisions will continue to be announced when they are made.”
