Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded to attacks that he has faced for launching a presidential bid to challenge President Joe Biden and his subsequent decision to drop out of the race and endorse Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

“My family is at the center of the Democratic Party,” RFK Jr. said during an interview on Sunday. “I have five members of my family that are working for the Biden administration. President Biden has a bust of my father behind him at the Oval Office. He’s been a family friend for many, many years.”

He said that he understands that his family is “troubled by my decisions” but that he still loves them.

“We were raised in a milieu where we were encouraged to debate each other and debate ferociously and passionately about things, but just still love each other,” he said. “They’re free to take their positions on these issues. There are many, many members of my family who are working in my campaign, who are supporting me. I have a very big family. There’s a few of them that are troubled, but you know, I think we all need to be able to disagree with each other and still love each other.”

Kennedy’s remarks come after a statement was released by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy and Rory Kennedy on Friday, criticizing RFK Jr. for endorsing Trump.

Former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) shared the post on social media, writing: “well said.”

“We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise, and national pride,” the family said in a statement. “We believe in Harris and Walz.”

“Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear,” they claimed. “It is a sad ending to a sad story.”

RFK Jr. responds to attacks that the Kennedy family has made against him for endorsing Trump.

He says his family should be free to express whatever political stances they have but they should “be able to disagree with each other and still love each other.” pic.twitter.com/BrpO96oSCN

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) August 25, 2024

French authorities arrested the Russian-born founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, on Saturday night immediately after his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport.

Authorities were shocked that Durov, who was coming Azerbaijan, landed in France because apparently a search warrant had been issued against him at some previous point in time and authorities could only execute it if he stepped on French soil.

“He made a blunder this evening,” a source familiar with the investigation told TF1/LCI. “We don’t know why… Was this flight just a stopover? In any case, he’s in custody.”

The publication said that he avoids traveling to countries where his messaging platform is under criminal investigation for a wide range of alleged offenses.

The charges that he reportedly faces involve the spread of illegal material on Telegram that authorities allege he has taken minimal action to stop. The company also reportedly does not always cooperate with law enforcement.

French media said that because the company has not taken serious steps to reduce criminal content on the platform that it was being viewed as an accomplice to a wide-range of criminal activity, including “terrorism, narcotics, fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen goods, pedocriminal content, etc.”

“On his platform, he allowed an incalculable number of offences and crimes to be committed, for which he did nothing to moderate or cooperate,” a source close to the case told the publication.

The Telegram CEO, whose net-worth is estimated to be over $9 billion, is in charge of a platform that currently has more than 900 million users around the world.

Durov left Russia in 2014 after he lost control of another social media platform because he wouldn’t turn over information to Russian officials about Ukrainian opposition groups.

Wall Street Journal correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov noted that another potential aspect at play in Durov’s arrest was Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“One little-known feature of this war is that the Ukrainian military largely communicates via Signal and the Russian military via Telegram,” he posted on X.

He added that Russian military analysts were panicked following Durov’s arrest because the platform was “the critical means of communication within the Russian armed forces.”

Panic among Russian military analysts and bloggers: Telegram seems to be the critical means of communication within the Russian armed forces. https://t.co/3aayhCU2gx pic.twitter.com/pGOa9ScuWs

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) August 24, 2024

Durov’s arrest sparked intense reaction online from a range of free speech advocates who did not believe the nature of the charges against him.

X owner Elon Musk said that the situation was “super messed up.”

“America is the last large country to uphold free speech and, even here, it is under attack,” he wrote, later adding: “It is vital to the support of free speech that you forward 𝕏 posts to people you know, especially in censorship-heavy countries.”