(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a complaint on May 28, 2024, in which he said that CNN, Joe Biden and Donald Trump violated federal campaign and debate rules by preventing him from participating in the upcoming debate next month.
Trump and Biden were scheduled to meet face-to-face at the network’s Atlanta headquarters on June 27, 2024, with no third-party candidates involved, the New York Post reported.
CNN “colluded” with the Biden and Trump teams to exclude RFK Jr. from joining the debate by employing “criteria designed to result in the selection of certain pre-chosen candidates,” Kennedy’s team said.
In the complaint, the team also mentioned a report by the Washington Post from May 17, 2024, about the Biden team collaborating with CNN so that RFK Jr. would not be involved.
CNN responded to the complaint by citing 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 news source reported.
“The law in virtually every state provides that the nominee of a state-recognized political party will be allowed ballot access without petitioning… Both Biden and Trump will satisfy this requirement. As an independent candidate, under applicable laws, RFK, Jr. does not,” CNN’s spokesperson said.
RFK Jr. said that he has enough signatures to be on the ballot in 15 states that award 229 electoral votes. However, the process to get on the ballot is ongoing and many of the signatures have yet to be officially verified.
Additionally, RFK Jr. is averaging 12% support in polling, which is below the 15% threshold.
“The mere application for ballot access does not guarantee that he will appear on the ballot in any state. 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,” the spokesperson said.
RFK Jr. has until June 20, 2024, to hit those metrics.
