- Yes, we all had a good laugh when it came to light
that RFK Jr. had literal brain worms.
But did you know that those brain worms
are actually legally relevant?
- Have you the brain worms?
- Yes, brain worms.
They're not just political ad hominems anymore.
Yes, the 2024 presidential election is here.
Option one is a very old man who mixes up his words,
option two is an almost as old man
who falls asleep in court,
and option three is a Kennedy with a literal brain worm.
Good luck, America. I'm outta here.
(slide whistle peeps) (paper flutters)
But at least what I find interesting about this confession
of actual literal brain worms is that it was part
of a larger legal strategy.
During a deposition taken during his 2012 divorce,
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed
to have several mental health problems,
including a brain parasite.
Yes, those nematode were legally relevant to his divorce,
and we're gonna discover why.
The story is even wilder
because Kennedy claimed to have other brain damage
that was also legally relevant.
While now he is contrasting himself
with other presidential candidates,
claiming to be a health nut
who can solve all of America's health crises.
His story is that his opponents are old men,
fact check, true, (check mark dings)
whereas he's a vigorous youngster
who can do shirtless pushups.
But Kennedy, who is a sprightly septuagenarian,
said under oath that he has brain damage.
Now, as you may know, Robert Kennedy Jr.
is one of 11 children born to Robert Kennedy
and Ethel Skakel.
RFK Sr. was a senator and Attorney General
who was murdered while running for president in 1968.
Robert Jr. is a lawyer who was running for president
as an Independent.
Kennedy is currently best known for claiming
that COVID vaccines kill people.
But at the time of his divorce,
he had been a successful environmental lawyer
for more than two decades.
For example, in 2007,
he secured a $396 million jury verdict against DuPont
for polluting the water at a zinc smelting plant
in Spelter, West Virginia.
And today, we're talking about his second marriage,
which ended in divorce in 2012.
Kennedy married Mary Richardson,
and the couple had four children,
but things disintegrated and Kennedy filed for divorce.
Now, the key issue in the divorce
was how much money RFK Jr. had
and whether he still had the ability
to win big class-action cases in the future.
Now, if you haven't been through a divorce, congratulations,
'cause even amicable divorces are hard.
But most of the time asset distribution
is relatively straightforward,
even if the spouses no longer get along.
That's because in most states,
asset division is guided by statute.
In community property states,
all assets and debts acquired during the marriage
are owned equally by both spouses.
Typically, they're divided 50/50.
And in equitable distribution states,
the court considers many factors to come up
with a fair division of assets,
including things like each person's finances,
what each contributed during the marriage,
and what they'll need in the future.
Not surprisingly, when a family has more assets,
the divorce can be even more contentious.
And often, like a civil suit,
a divorce case can have a discovery stage
where each party engages in fact finding.
And here, both spouses exchange information
about their financial status
and ask for information from the other,
including how much money each spouse expects
to earn in the future.
Divorce discovery is similar to discovery
in other kinds of civil litigation.
The parties exchange records and take depositions.
And that's how RFK Jr. found himself explaining
that his future earning capacity
would be drastically reduced because of his brain parasites,
among other injuries.
Obviously Kennedy and his family were highly invested
in stopping Mary Richardson Kennedy
from getting too much of the family fortune.
Eventually, Kennedy had to give deposition testimony
about his net worth and his ability to work.
At that point, Kennedy had worked
for the National Resource Defense Council
and was in private practice,
focusing on class-action litigation.
And according to "The New York Times,"
Kennedy testified that he'd been having some memory loss,
so he went in for a brain scan.
A surgeon apparently told Kennedy that his issue was,
quote, "caused by a worm that got into my brain,
and ate a portion of it, and then died."
- Oh! - Worms?
- Parasite had given him brain fog,
and because of that,
he argued his earning power was hampered.
"The New York Times" quotes Kennedy as saying, quote,
"I have cognitive problems.
Clearly I have short-term memory loss,
and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me."
So what did this mean for the divorce?
Well, the issue was never resolved
because Mary Richardson died by suicide
before the divorce was finalized.
Now, I'm sure everyone following along at home
is wondering just how much was at stake.
Well, it's hard to say exactly how much money was at stake
in this particular divorce.
Kennedy shares in the Kennedy family trusts,
which were established in 1926,
Grandfather Joe Kennedy made his money
in stocks and real estate.
The Kennedy trusts are now worth at least $1 billion,
but because there are so many Kennedy descendants,
Robert probably only has a small interest in those trusts.
Still, the Kennedy family was reportedly very involved
in bullying Mary Richardson to settle for less money.
A 2015 book by Jeffrey Oppenheimer claimed Kennedy's sister,
quote, "Kerry was said to have been putting intense pressure
on Mary that night and in the weeks before
to sign Bobby's divorce settlement agreement,
described as a very bitter, harsh,
and draconian proposal,
limiting Mary's custody of her children
and slashing her financial support."
Mary's friends told Oppenheimer that, quote,
"Kerry had hammered constantly at Mary
to sign Bobby's settlement and told her,
"There's not an endless pool of money.
You're making everybody broke."
Now, obviously we don't know what really happened
between Mary and members of the Clan Kennedy,
however, we do know that 12 years later,
Kerry and the rest of Robert's siblings
endorsed President Biden.
And Forbes estimates that Kennedy's personal net worth
is currently about 15 million.
And Kennedy's divorce is not the only one
that might be relevant to the presidential campaign.
Kennedy is not self-funding his presidential campaign.
His running mate, Nicole Shanahan, is fronting those costs.
Shanahan is a patent lawyer,
but she made the bulk of her fortune
through two great divorce settlements.
Her first husband, Jeremy Kranz, is a venture capitalist.
Her second husband was Google Co-founder Sergey Brin.
And although the two had a prenuptial agreement
limiting her settlement to $1 million,
Shanahan claims she signed it under duress.
And when the divorce went through arbitration,
she wound up walking away with around,
quote, "2.6 million Alphabet Class B shares from Brin,
worth 390 million in March, 2024,
and possibly received an additional equal amount
of Class C shares."
So sometimes divorce is more lucrative than patent law.
So what does RFK Jr. say about all this now?
Well, first of all, he tells a slightly different story
from how he was diagnosed.
When he was under oath in the deposition,
he testified that several neurologists originally believed
he had a brain tumor after discovering a dark spot
in his scans.
He was about to get surgery,
when at the last moment, he received a call
from a doctor at New York Presbyterian Hospital,
who believed that Kennedy had a dead parasite in his head.
Now Kennedy says he was actually picking up images
of his scans at Columbia Presbyterian in New York
the day before flying to North Carolina.
That's when he met this, quote, "young Irish doctor
who was a neurosurgeon, who was sitting in the room,
and he and I started talking with each other."
The doctor then asked to see his scans and, quote,
"They put them up on the light board,
and he looked at it for a long, long time.
And then he said, 'I don't think you earned a surgery.'"
- Worms. - Worms.
- But what about those cognitive problems?
Well, in addition to the parasite, Kennedy testified
that he had mercury poisoning from eating too much fish,
and that it impacted his memory and cognitive abilities.
Now, in fairness, Kennedy has taken these revelations
in stride and in good humor, tweeting that, quote,
"I offered to eat five more brain worms
and still beat President Trump
and President Biden in a debate.
I feel confident in the result,
even with a six-worm handicap."
And the campaign issued a statement, quote,
"Mr. Kennedy traveled extensively in Africa, South America,
and Asia in his work as an environmental advocate,
and in one of those locations contracted a parasite.
The issue was resolved more than 10 years ago,
and he is in robust physical and mental health.
Questioning Mr. Kennedy's health is a hilarious suggestion
given his competition."
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