Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said last week that’s he’s been speaking to Tesla CEO Elon Musk and NewsNation about the possibility of hosting an alternative event during the same time that CNN hosts the first presidential debate of the election season.
RFK Jr., the independent presidential candidate, has been railing against the process, saying that he should be included in the CNN debate, which will pit presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump against President Joe Biden.
The debate will be held on June 27 at CNN’s studios in Atlanta. It will not feature a live studio audience, the media channel said, which will offer both candidates sufficient time to weigh in on the issues.
During a recent interview with RFK Jr., NewsNation host Chris Cuomo told him:
“If you can’t get on that stage (CNN debate), we’re happy at NewsNation to offer you a platform.”
He then asked him:
“What do you think about creating an alternative platform if you get boxed out of the game?”
Kennedy responded:
“We are talking right now with NewsNation, with your network, and Elon Musk has offered us a platform on X, and Elon is now talking also with NewsNation to do a joint platform and a joint debate, kind of an alternative debate. So you know, that’s something we’re looking at. I obviously would like to be on the debate — I would like to be on the main debate stage.”
RFK Jr. has said that he believes he meets all of CNN’s requirements for qualifying for the debate and therefore shouldn’t be shut out just because he is a third-party candidate. CNN, though, has said the debate will only take place between Trump and Biden.
That’s why Kennedy filed a complaint last week with the Federal Election Commission, which accused the media network of colluding with the two major party presidential candidates to ensure he doesn’t join them on the debate stage.
As the complaint alleges:
“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. The available evidence leads to the clear conclusion that CNN is making prohibited corporate contributions to both parties.”
For its part, CNN denied the allegations that the Kennedy campaign levied against them.
Trump and Biden, meanwhile, have each said they would be opposed to having Kennedy debate with them.
To protest being left off the debate, Kennedy attended the Libertarian National Convention last week, handing out rubber chickens before Trump gave his scheduled speech.
In addition to the June debate with CNN, the two major candidates will meet again on September 10, an event that ABC will host.
Both events are unique in the fact that they are being held very early — with the one in June coming before either candidate has even been officially nominated by their respective party.