Robert F. Kennedy Jr. files complaint over rules for CNN’s presidential debate next month

PHOENIX (AP) — Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed an election complaint Wednesday alleging CNN is colluding with Democratic President Joe Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump to exclude him from a debate the network is hosting next month.

Kennedy alleges the requirements to participate in the June 27 debate were designed to ensure only Biden and Trump would qualify and Kennedy claims he is being held to a higher standard.

“CNN is making prohibited corporate contributions to both campaigns and the Biden committee and the Trump committee have accepted these prohibited corporate contributions,” a lawyer for Kennedy, Lorenzo Holloway, wrote in a letter to the Federal Election Commission.

CNN said the complaint was without merit.

Biden and Trump agreed this month to the CNN debate and a second on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC, bypassing the nonpartisan commission that has organized debates for nearly four decades. The first debate will come before Biden and Trump have been formally nominated by their parties this summer.

Kennedy has looked to the debates as a singular opportunity to stand alongside Biden and Trump, lending legitimacy to his longshot bid and convince people inclined to support him that he has a shot at winning. Both the Biden and Trump campaigns fear he could play spoiler.

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