RFK Jr. wants in…
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over CNN's debate rules, claiming the network “colluded” with President Biden.
Kennedy's complaint, filed on Wednesday, alleges that CNN along with Trump, Biden and their campaigns “collectively” engaged in “flagrant” violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act to prevent the independent candidate from the network's June 27 debate.
“The violations occurred when, based on available evidence, CNN colluded with the Biden Committee and the Trump Committee to schedule and did schedule a debate with criteria that were designed to result in the selection of certain pre-chosen participants, namely Biden and Trump, in a clear breach of federal campaign finance law,” Lorenzo Holloway, the attorney for the independent candidate said in the complaint addressed to Lisa J. Stevenson, the FEC's acting General Counsel.
“CNN is making prohibited corporate contributions to both campaigns and the Biden committee and the Trump committee have accepted these prohibited corporate contributions,” he added.
CNN responded to RFK Jr. calling the complaint “baseless.” Currently, Kennedy does not meet the network's polling criteria and has yet to gain the ballot access needed to win the White House bid.
“The law in virtually every state provides that the nominee of a state-recognized political party will be allowed ballot access without petitioning, ” a CNN spokesperson said in a statement.
“As the presumptive nominees of their parties both Biden and Trump will satisfy this requirement,” the spokesperson said. “As an independent candidate, under applicable laws RFK, Jr. does not.
“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 CNN spokesperson said.
To qualify for participation, candidates must fulfill the requirements outlined in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States; file a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission; a candidate's name must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency prior to the eligibility deadline; agree to accept the rules and format of the debate; and receive at least 15% in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters that meet CNN's standards for reporting.
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