Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unlikely to participate in presidential debate after he misses deadline to qualify
RFK Jr. misses deadline to join Biden-Trump debate next week
Independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is unlikely to take part in 2024's first United States presidential debate after he skipped the deadline set by the hosting media organisation.
CNN, which is set to host the debate on its platform on June 27, said that only President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump had met the criteria to participate.
"Presidents Biden and Trump do not want me on the debate stage and CNN illegally agreed to their demand," Kennedy said in a statement. "My exclusion by Presidents Biden and Trump from the debate is undemocratic, un-American, and cowardly."
Out of the conditions put in place by the news organisation, one was to show up on enough state ballots to potentially win the presidency polls and the other was to receive at least 15% voter support in four separate national polls.
As per CNN's tally, Kennedy had garnered the said 15% in only three accepted polls to date and had qualified for the ballot in only six states.
This would not be sufficient to win the presidency.
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Kennedy had alleged that the TV network's conditions were unjustly imposed and were deliberately intended to prevent him from going on stage.
The Kennedy campaign demanded the Federal Election Commission that it must take action by Thursday (June 20) and keep CNN, Biden and Trump from holding the debate scheduled for June 27 unless the channel makes changes. The FEC however declined to comment.
"If the debate goes forward without Mr. Kennedy, the Kennedy campaign intends to pursue this issue for as long as it takes to obtain justice against these illegal acts," the campaign said in a statement on Thursday.
(With inputs from agencies)