Trump hints at big healthcare role for RFK Jr if he wins

Republican candidate Donald Trump has announced that Kennedy family scion and notorious vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr would play a "big role" in his administration if he wins next week's election.

Speaking to reporters outside an upscale halal restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, Mr Trump exuded confidence in Mr Kennedy, who has spent two decades fueling vaccine disinformation, claiming he had the perfect credentials for a high-level job.

"He's going to have a big role in healthcare," Mr Trump declared, adding with a trademark flourish: "He knows about it better than anybody."

Mr Trump noted that Mr Kennedy has "got some views that I happen to agree with very strongly and I have for a long time," but he dodged questions on whether he specifically endorsed Mr Kennedy's vaccine rhetoric.

Mr Kennedy, a former Democrat, ran as an independent earlier in this election cycle before dropping his campaign in August to support the Republican tycoon.

He is widely rumored to be a contender for a cabinet position, with speculation centering on the role of Secretary of Health and Human Services.

During a raucous rally in New York's Madison Square Garden last week, Mr Trump teased he would allow Mr Kennedy to "go wild on health," leaving the specifics up to the imagination.

And last night he suggested to a Nevada crowd that this remit would extend to "women's health," further angering Democrats already incensed over Republican-led abortion rights rollbacks in more than 20 states.

Cabinet appointments require Senate confirmation by a simple majority of 51 votes, with the vice president breaking ties if needed.

Since the mid-2000s, Robert F Kennedy Jr has risen to become a leading figure in the global anti-vaccine movement.

His claims include calling Covid-19 vaccines the "deadliest ever made" and suggesting the virus was "ethnically targeted" to harm black and white people while sparing "Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."

He was once a well-respected climate lawyer and was widely reported as a leading candidate for chief of the Environmental Protection Agency under former Democratic president Barack Obama, before ultimately being passed over.