Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint on Tuesday claiming that CNN, former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden colluded to exclude him from a televised debate slated for June.
In the complaint, which was addressed to FEC Acting General Counsel Lisa Stevenson, the Kennedy campaign alleges that the parties designed criteria "to result in the selection of certain pre-chosen participants, namely Biden and Trump, in a clear breach of federal campaign finance law."
Under FEC law, media broadcasters are required to use "pre-established" and "objective" criteria to determine debate eligibility for candidates. CNN is not permitted to pre-select candidates and debate hosts are not allowed to "use nomination by a particular political party as the sole objective criterion to determine whether to include a candidate in a debate."
The complaint noted that The Washington Post reported the Biden campaign "had not agreed to any terms that could include Kennedy" and that CNN producers told Trump aides that "RFK will not be on the stage."
"By demanding our campaign meet different criteria to participate in the debate than Presidents Biden and Trump, CNN's debate violates FEC law and is a large prohibited corporate contribution to both the Biden and Trump campaigns," Kennedy said in a statement.
Kennedy called on the FEC to "find reason to believe that the Parties have violated the Federal Election Campaign Act" and "enjoin the Parties from holding the presidential debate scheduled for June 27, 2024 until the Parties have come into compliance with the Federal Election Campaign Act."
In order for candidates to qualify for CNN's debate, their "name must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency" by the June 20 deadline.
Candidates must also garner at least 15% support in four national polls of registered or likely voters sponsored by CNN, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, Marquette University Law School, Monmouth University, NBC News, The New York Times/Siena College, NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist College, Quinnipiac University, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
As of Wednesday, the Kennedy ticket has submitted signatures to the secretaries of State in California, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah, which adds up to 171 electoral votes, according to a campaign press release.
Kennedy also argues in the complaint that both Biden and Trump are seeking the presidential nominations of their respective parties, but have not yet been officially nominated. Official nominations take place during party conventions, with the Republicans' scheduled for July and the Democrats' in August.
According to the release, Kennedy has three of the four national polls needed to qualify for the upcoming debate. A Marquette Law School poll of registered voters from last week found RFK Jr. at 17% support, while he came in at 16% respectively in a CNN poll and a Quinnipiac poll from April.
CNN told Newsweek that Kennedy doesn't yet qualify for the debate because "the mere application for ballot access does not guarantee that he will appear on the ballot in any state."
The network also said that Trump and Biden qualify to participate because nearly every state "provides that the nominee of a state-recognized political party will be allowed ballot access without petitioning."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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