CNN, President Biden, former President Donald Trump, and their campaigns have been accused of violating federal election law in a complaint lodged by RFK Jr.’s campaign with the Federal Election Commission.
The Kennedy campaign asserts that CNN is employing a distinct approach to the debate criteria for Kennedy, an independent candidate, as opposed to Trump and Mr. Biden, the presumptive nominees of their respective parties. Before either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party formally nominate their nominees at their conventions, CNN will host the inaugural presidential debate in Atlanta on June 27. The Kennedy campaign is claiming that the debate is an illegal campaign contribution to both Mr. Biden and Trump.
“CNN is making prohibited corporate contributions to both campaigns, and the Biden committee and the Trump committee have accepted these prohibited corporate contributions,” stated the complaint.
According to CNN’s debate criteria, a candidate must receive a minimum of 15% in four prominent national polls by June 20 and appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to meet the 270 threshold for the presidency. Kennedy has not yet satisfied the ballot appearance criteria or the polling criteria.
Nevertheless, the Kennedy campaign maintains that Trump and Mr. Biden are ineligible for any electoral ballots, as neither has been officially nominated. Kennedy, on the other hand, claims that he may qualify in a limited number of states. The qualification threshold must still be met by candidates in the coming weeks.
Kennedy stated that CNN’s debate is a significant prohibited corporate contribution to both the Biden and Trump campaigns and violates FEC law by requiring our campaign to satisfy different criteria to participate in the debate than Presidents Biden and Trump.
The Kennedy campaign is requesting that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) identify the parties that are currently in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act and prevent them from participating in the debate.
Nevertheless, CNN maintained that their qualification policies were justified.
“The nominee of a state-recognized political party will be granted ballot access without the need for a petition in virtually every state,” stated a CNN spokesperson. “Both Biden and Trump will fulfill this requirement as the presumptive nominees of their respective parties.” RFK, Jr. is not required to comply with applicable laws as an independent candidate. The mere application for ballot access does not ensure that he will be included on the ballot in any state. Furthermore, RFK, Jr. is not currently meeting our polling criteria, which, like the other objective criteria, were established prior to the issuance of the debate invitations.
Additionally, both the Biden and Trump campaigns have consented to participate in a debate on ABC on September 10. The Biden campaign has accepted CBS News’ invitation to participate in a vice-presidential debate this summer; however, the Trump campaign has yet to respond.
