Weeks after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the presidential race in August and endorsed Donald Trump, the Trump campaign paid a California law firm that lists Kennedy among its lawyers, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The Trump campaign — now known as Never Surrender Inc. — disbursed $100,000 to “JW Howard Attorneys” on Sept. 13, just three weeks after Kennedy bowed out of the race and backed Trump, FEC records show. Financial data for Trump’s campaign, which was converted to a leadership PAC, appears in FEC filings under the new Never Surrender name.
The website of a law firm bearing that name has offices in San Diego and Pasadena, California, features a photo of Kennedy and lists him as a “constitutional and environmental litigator” and one of three lawyers working from its “Los Angeles area” location.
The Trump campaign made no other payments to JW Howard Attorneys during the 2023-24 election cycle, according to FEC records. Team Kennedy paid the firm on five occasions between August 2023 and April 2024. JW Howard did not receive payments from any other campaign or committee as of mid-October 2024, according to the records.
Kennedy’s own financial disclosure, filed with the federal Office of Government Ethics in July 2024, states that he is under an employment agreement with JW Howard for the period between January 2023 and December 2024, subject to annual renewal. That same report says Kennedy earned more than $409,000 in income from JW Howard in 2023.
Kennedy abandoned his presidential bid in August and endorsed Trump, who last month named Kennedy as his choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Trump transition team, a spokesperson for Kennedy and JW Howard did not respond to requests for comment.
