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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a>\u00a0\u2018s presidential campaign on Thursday terminated a contract with a vendor it blamed for sending a fundraising email that referred to people facing charges for the Jan. 6 insurrection as \u201cactivists\u201d who were \u201cstripped of their constitutional liberties.\u201d<\/p>\n The language in the email echoed former President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>, who has worked to rewrite the history of the effort to disrupt the\u00a0violent attack<\/a>\u00a0on the Capitol as lawmakers prepared to certify President\u00a0Joe Biden<\/a>\u00a0\u2018s 2020 victory. Trump has vowed to pardon the rioters and made the attack a\u00a0cornerstone of his campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThat statement was an error that does not reflect Mr. Kennedy\u2019s views,\u201d Kennedy spokesperson Stefanie Spear said in a statement. \u201cIt was inserted by a new marketing contractor and slipped through the normal approval process. The campaign has terminated its contract with this vendor.\u201d<\/p>\n The campaign declined to release the name of the contractor.<\/p>\n The fundraising pitch was sent Thursday with the subject \u201cWe Must Free Assange!\u201d It called for the release of the WikiLeaks founder,\u00a0Julian Assange<\/a>, as the U.S.\u00a0seeks extradition<\/a>\u00a0on charges related to his organization\u2019s publication of a huge trove of classified documents. He has been in custody in a high-security London prison since 2019, and previously spent seven years in self-exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.<\/p>\n A British court ruled last week that Assange\u00a0can\u2019t be extradited<\/a>\u00a0unless the U.S. provides stronger assurances that he won\u2019t face the death penalty.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Brits want to make sure our government doesn\u2019t kill Assange,\u201d Kennedy\u2019s fundraising email said. \u201cThis is the reality that every American Citizen faces \u2013 from Ed Snowden, to Julian Assange to the J6 activists sitting in a Washington DC jail cell stripped of their Constitutional liberties.\u201d<\/p>\n Kennedy enraged Democrats this week when he argued that Biden is a bigger threat to democracy than Trump, again echoing a Trump campaign narrative.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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 \u2013 the first president in history that has used the federal agencies to censor political speech, so to censor his opponent,\u201d Kennedy said in a CNN interview.<\/p>\n Kennedy is seeking ballot access for his independent presidential campaign, hoping his famous last name and anti-establishment views could help him overcome the exceedingly long odds against third-party presidential candidates. He\u2019s built a fierce following among Americans who feel unheard by the two major parties. His candidacy has worried both Biden and Trump boosters amid uncertainty about how he could affect the race.<\/p>\n So far, only Utah has formally recognized Kennedy\u2019s place on the ballot. He says he\u2019s collected enough signatures to qualify in several other states, including the swing states of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina, but that has not been confirmed by elections officials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to the new Fortune CEO Weekly Europe newsletter to get corner office insights on the biggest business stories in Europe. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n