Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. presidential candidate, spoke at a press conference Thursday atConsensus 2024in Austin, Texas. Here are some of his comments:

"I'm going to talk about issues of broader concern. I want to focus on the economic issues and the health issues. That's what my campaign is about. I'm not going to get dragged into the dirt pile. I don't have any thoughts. I've been very disciplined in not talking about lawsuits against [Joe] Biden or Trump."

"I'm happy about that. I think it's a good thing for our country. Commitment to crypto is a commitment to freedom and transparency. I'm not going to question if it was a political decision. I'm happy he did it, and I hope President Biden does, too."

"I think transactional freedom is one. We need sovereignty over our own wallets, transactional freedom and a currency that is transparent. We need to make sure America remains the hub of blockchain technology. I'm going to make sure cryptocurrency is regulated in a way that protects the consumer from deceptive schemes. I purchased 21 bitcoins since I started this campaign. I also bought three coins for each of my kids."

"My objective if elected president is that crypto is a transactional currency. That people can have transactional freedom. That people have a choice as to whether they can buy it. I think it should be treated as a currency; we shouldn't be taxing it as capital gains. I think there are issues in how we do that. I believe that it should be a currency used to purchase things like apples, lunches and coffee and that people can do that."

"I toyed with getting into politics when I was younger. For two decades I took that off the plate. I saw what happened during Covid and when the government shut down the economy. I thought it was wrong. The government shut down every church, attacked the 5th amendment, shut down business without due process … they shut down jury trials, they violated prohibitions and I saw this attack on the constitution and censorship, not just to me but so many people who were trying to talk. I saw that and it seemed so unethical to my country. All these traditional values for my party and my country were disappearing, and I felt I could play a unique role in showing people what America's supposed to look like."