RFK Jr. accuses CNN of excluding him from presidential debate with Biden, Trump
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a complaint Tuesday alleging CNN, President Biden and former President Donald Trump violated federal campaign and debate rules by barring him from a planned forum next month.
The two presumptive major party nominees are scheduled to meet face-to-face at the network’s Atlanta headquarters June 27. No third-party candidates will be involved.
Kennedy’s team argued CNN “colluded” with the Biden and Trump teams to exclude the 70-year-old from joining the debate by employing “criteria that were designed to to result in the selection of certain pre-chosen candidates.”
The complaint also cited a May 17 Washington Post report that the Biden team spoke to CNN about nixing RFK Jr.’s involvement.
In response to the complaint, CNN cited its eligibility thresholds for debates, which require a candidate to appear “on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency prior to the eligibility deadline” and attain “at least 15% in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters that meet CNN’s standards for reporting.”
“The law in virtually every state provides that the nominee of a state-recognized political party will be allowed ballot access without petitioning,” a network spokesperson told The Post in a statement.
“As the presumptive nominees of their parties both Biden and Trump will satisfy this requirement. As an independent candidate, under applicable laws RFK, Jr. does not.”
Currently, Kennedy claims to have enough signatures to be on the ballot in 15 states that award a total of 229 electoral votes, but the process to get on the ballot is ongoing and many of the signatures have yet to be officially verified.
Kennedy is also averaging 12% support in polling, according to RealClearPolitics, below the 15% threshold.
“The mere application for ballot access does not guarantee that he will appear on the ballot in any state,” the CNN spokesperson added. “In addition, RFK, Jr. does not currently meet our polling criteria, which, like the other objective criteria, were set before issuing invitations to the debate.”
Kennedy has until June 20 to hit those metrics.
Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Post about Kennedy’s complaint.
Trump’s team also did not respond, but the former president has previously said that it’s Biden who doesn’t want Kennedy on stage.
“Crooked Joe Biden does not want RFK Jr. in the debates because Junior’ is far left [of] him and they would be debating over the same territory, like ridiculous Open Borders and the Green New Scam, both of which are killing our Country. He’s also sharper and far more intelligent than Joe, all making for a bad combination of ingredients,” Trump posted on Truth Social May 16.
“I don’t care if Junios’ [sic] joins the Debate, but right now his polling numbers are very low, he is not properly qualified in the States, and he seems to be on a downward path. Junior’ needs more than his name to get on the ‘stage!'”
