Robert F. Kennedy says Biden is a bigger threat to democracy than Trump in CNN interview where he's forced to watch clip of JFK's grandson calling his campaign an 'embarrassment'

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy argued Monday President Joe Biden was a bigger threat to democracy than former President Donald J. Trump, challenging a key narrative from Democrats in the 2024 election.

Kennedy spoke about his independent run for president with CNN's Erin Burnett, a rare prime time opportunity for the candidate that continues tracking interest from voters unhappy with the options of President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump for president.

'I can make the argument that President Biden is the much worse threat to democracy, and the reason for that is President Biden is the first candidate in history – the first president in history that has used the federal agencies to censor political speech, so to censor his opponent,' he said.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a campaign rally

He acknowledged that Trump's efforts to overturn the election was a threat to democracy and 'appalling,' but that Biden's attempts to censor his political opponents was much worse.

'The greatest threat to democracy is not someone who questions election returns, but a president of the United States who used the power of his office to force social media companies, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, to open a portal and give access of that portal to the FBI, the CIA, to the IRS ... to censor his political critics,' Kennedy said.

Ultimately, Kennedy revisited his claims that both the 2000 and the 2004 elections were 'stolen' and that it was wrong to demonize people who questioned election results.

'People who say that the election is stolen… we shouldn’t make pariahs of those people. We shouldn’t demonize them. We shouldn’t vilify them. What we should be doing is saying, let’s all get together, Republicans and Democrats, and fix the election system,' he said.

Burnett played a CNN interview of Kennedy’s sister Rory Kennedy, asking him to respond to her concerns that Kennedy would undermine Biden's reelection campaign. 

She also played a clip of John F. Kennedy's grandson Jack Schlossberg who called Robert F. Kennedy 'an embarrassment' in an Instagram video in July.

Kennedy responded to family members who opposed his decision to run as an independent candidate

Jack Schlossberg endorses President Joe Biden over the candidacy of his grandfather Robert F. Kennedy in a post to Instagram, calling his candidacy an 'embarrassment' to the family

A recent DailyMail.com/J.L. Partners survey shows Kennedy attracting nine percent of Biden's supporters who voted for him in 2020. 

Kennedy acknowledged that some of his family members were not supportive of his presidential campaign, but said it was normal.

“I have a big family, about 105 cousins on the last time we counted,” Kennedy said. “I have a big family. I don’t know anybody in America who’s got a family who agrees with him on everything.”

He said he would continue to love and appreciate members of his family, even those who were actively speaking against him. 

'We could disagree on issues, and we could disagree with passion and information, but we still loved each other. And I love Rory. I love my family. I feel loved by them,' he said.

Kennedy also pointed out his daughter-in-law was running his political campaign and his cousin Anthony Shriver was also working for his campaign. 

Former President Donald Trump has praised Kennedy in the past, but describes him as a radical leftist

Democrats are worried that Kennedy will take away votes from President Biden in close swing states

Kennedy disputed the argument that his presence of the race would only help Trump win, claiming voters supporting him were already discouraged from voting in the first place. 

He said he was running a populist campaign based on ideals that was not intent on demonizing the opposite candidate but rather trying to tackle some of the toughest issues facing Americans.  

'I don’t think either President Trump or President Biden are going to solve the debt crisis in this country, which is existential. I don’t think either of them are going to get us out of foreign wars, this addiction that we have to forever wars,' he said.