Kennedy also denied a picture of him posing with the barbecued
carcass of a large animal - which Vanity Fair said appeared to
be a dog - belonged to a canine. He said it was the carcass of a
goat.
Vanity Fair said Kennedy texted the photo to a friend last year,
saying the friend might enjoy a restaurant in Korea that served
dog on the menu.
"Hey @VanityFair," Kennedy wrote on social media platform X,
"you know when your veterinary experts call a goat a dog, and
your forensic experts say a photo taken in Patagonia was taken
in Korea, that you've joined the ranks of supermarket tabloids."
The photo was taken in 2010, according to the digital file's
metadata, the article said, the same year Kennedy was diagnosed
with a parasite in his brain. He has since fully recovered, his
campaign has said.
Reuters was not able to independently confirm details of the
photograph.
Kennedy, who is running in the Nov. 5 presidential election
against Democratic incumbent Joe Biden and Republican contender
Donald Trump, has been called a potential election "spoiler" by
standing to take votes away from both major-party candidates.
The Vanity Fair article also said that in 1998 Kennedy and his
then-wife Mary Richardson hired a 23-year-old woman, Eliza
Cooney, as their part-time babysitter, who told the magazine
that Kennedy groped her in the family kitchen.
Cooney told Reuters on Tuesday that the details in the Vanity
Fair article on the assault were accurate.
When asked about the allegation, Kennedy told a podcast on
Tuesday, "I am not a church boy."
"I had a very, very rambunctious youth," he told podcaster
Saagar Enjeti. "I said in my announcement speech that I have so
many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote, I could
run for king of the world."
When pressed if he denied the sexual assault allegation, Kennedy
said, "I'm not going to comment on it."
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Heather Timmons and
Deepa Babington)
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