Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign announced Wednesday that a Complaint by the Federal Election Commission The campaigns of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, as well as CNN, have been sued for violating federal law in their coverage of the June 27 presidential debate.
Kennedy claims that CNN is “requiring our campaign to meet different criteria than President Biden and Trump in order to participate in the debate.”
CNN’s debate requirements state that “a candidate’s name must appear on enough state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency before the qualifying period.” This deadline is June 20, one week before the debate. The criteria is similar to what the Commission on Presidential Debates has long used for the fall debates, but the early timing of the CNN debate makes the implications different this time.
Kennedy is currently on the ballot in seven states, including California and battleground Michigan, but he has yet to reach the ballot in states with just 270 electoral votes. He has said in various recent interviews that his campaign will reach this limit by June 20. different state procedures and deadlines can make this difficult.
“Simply applying to be on the ballot does not guarantee that it will appear on the ballot in any state,” CNN told NBC News. “Furthermore, RFK Jr. does not currently meet our established inquiry criteria prior to issuing debate invitations, such as other objective criteria.”
Kennedy has passed the threshold in three polls so far and needs one more to meet the 15% support requirement in four separate polls verified by CNN.
Meanwhile, Kennedy claims that Biden and Trump will also not qualify for ballot access because the party conventions that formalize their nominations will not take place until later this summer.
“In almost every state, the law allows a candidate of a state-recognized political party to get on the ballot without filing an application. As the presumptive nominees of their parties, both Biden and Trump will fulfill this requirement,” CNN said in a statement.
Kennedy is asking the FEC to block Biden, Trump and CNN from holding the June 27 debate. However, the FEC can take a significant amount of time to act on these complaints — years instead of the months that Kennedy requested. For example, Democratic National Committee complaint against Kennedy’s campaign and super PAC in February Still no response from the FEC.