Robert F Kennedy Jr files election complaint over CNN debate rules

The independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr filed an election complaint on Wednesday alleging CNN is colluding with Joe Biden and the 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 27 June 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 10 September hosted by ABC, bypassing the non-partisan 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 long-shot bid, and to convince people inclined to support him that he has a shot at winning. Both the Biden and Trump campaigns fear he could play spoiler.

Kennedy still has time to meet the requirements, though the window is narrowing.

CNN has said candidates will be invited if they have secured a place on the ballot in states totaling at least 270 votes in the electoral college, the minimum needed to win the presidency, and have reached 15% in four reliable polls by 20 June.

Kennedy’s campaign says he has submitted signatures or other paperwork to appear on the ballot in nine