Who Killed Bobby Kennedy? Guest: Jim DiEugenio (Strange Bedfellows, Ep. 32)

Just after midnight on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated on the campaign trail in Los Angeles, minutes after winning the California presidential primary.Show more

The shooter apprehended at the scene was 24 year-old Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian immigrant, who was heard to exclaim: "I can explain! I did it for my country!"

Sirhan confessed to the crime and said he was angry at Sen. #Kennedy over his support for #Israel. The date Sirhan selected for kill #RFK was the one-year anniversary of the 1967 Six-Day War.

In 1989, Sirhan told British journalist David Frost: "My only connection with Robert Kennedy was his sole support of Israel and his deliberate attempt to send those 50 fighter jets to Israel to obviously do harm to the Palestinians." Some scholars believe that the assassination was the first major incident of political violence in the United States stemming from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Sirhan Bishara Sirhan is still regarded as a hero of the Palestinian Liberation Movement, who have demanded his release several times during a number of hijackings and kidnappings over the past five-and-a-half decades - including a 1972 incident when the Popular Front for the Liberation of #Palestine hijacked a Lufthansa flight with #RFK's son Joseph Kennedy onboard.

That incredible story is told in this thread:

https://twitter.com/RealLoriSpencer/status/1754096340697489719?s=20

Sirhan Sirhan turned 80 years old this month -- and is still hoping for parole. He has been denied 17 times, most recently in 2023. If his efforts succeed, Sirhan will be immediately deported back to Palestine or Jordan because he is not an American citizen.

55 years ago, the murder trial of Sirhan Sirhan was ongoing in a Los Angeles courtroom. The trial began in January, 1969 and continued for four months. The jury convicted him of first-degree murder and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit murder -- one count for each of the five other innocent bystanders Sirhan shot.

At the time of Sirhan's conviction, most Americans believed without question that Sirhan acted alone; after all, he was seen by 77 witnesses firing a gun at #RFK in the Ambassador Hotel pantry, he confessed to the crime, and was convicted by a jury. It wasn't until 6 years later that questions of a possible conspiracy began to arise.

In 1974, Kennedy campaign labor organizer Paul Schrade, along with former U.S. Congressman Allard Lowenstein, CBS News, and former Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi filed a personal injury civil lawsuit against Sirhan and 50 other "John Does" with the ultimate goal of compelling the Los Angeles Police Department and Sirhan to provide new or withheld evidence in the original trial.

From that point forward, a thousand RFK assassination conspiracy theories were born, and over the past half-century the voices who call for a reopening the case grow louder.

The "Free Sirhan" movement includes none other than 2024 Independent presidential candidate #RFKJr, who wants answers in his father's murder.

Kennedy visited Sirhan in prison and wrote letters to the California Parole Board recommending his release.

The Kennedy family is split on the issue of Sirhan's release. RFK Jr. is joined by only one of his other siblings in calling for Sirhan's parole; all of their siblings and mother Ethel want Sirhan to die in prison.

Tonight on "Strange Bedfellows" we are pleased to welcome back Kennedy assassination historian James DiEugenio, who has written numerous books and articles on the #JFK and RFK assassinations over the past three decades. His latest book is "The JFK Assassination Chokeholds That Prove There Was A #Conspiracy."

Jim also wrote the screenplay and accompanying book for Oliver Stone's epic new documentary series "JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass" and is the editor-in-chief of KennedysAndKing.com -- an invaluable resource for information on the murders of President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King.

We will take a deep dive into the evidence presented at Sirhan's trial 55 years ago for both the prosecution and the defense, as well as new information that has come forward in the years since.

Jim DiEugenio will explain why he believes Sirhan's gun could not have killed RFK, and present a compelling case for conspiracy.

A fascinating conversation is always guaranteed on "Strange Bedfellows."

Join us live tonight from 9-11 P.M. Eastern on all of our Maverick News Network channels!