CNN will be holding a debate June 27th that will automatically qualify Presidents Biden and Trump for the stage- without meeting the criteria.
By Jeremy Lee Quinn
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. charges that CNN is holding an “illegal” debate. And recent statements by both the Federal Election Commission and the co-chairman of the Commission for Presidential Debates bolster the independent presidential candidate’s grievance.
CNN told members of the media last month that Presidents Biden and Trump are eligible for the debate stage as “presumptive nominees,” satisfying the ballot requirement for a potential 270 electoral votes (a requirement no candidate will meet until September.)
What’s more, the network won’t answer the question: When has the term “presumptive nominee” ever been used officially?
“That phrase is not in the FEC’s debate regulation,” an FEC spokesperson said, in response to an inquiry into the qualification cited by the cable news network.
The Commission on Presidential Debates co-chairman also responded to an inquiry into if “presumptive nominee” has ever been used for candidate eligibility.
“No,” co-chairman Frank Fahrenkopf wrote, “Until the conventions take place, we don’t know who the official nominees will be.” The CPD’s site also states explicitly that major political party candidates have the “same standards” of eligibility as everybody else.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on a June 20 deadline to qualify for CNN’s televised debate. The event will be held June 27th and is expected to be watched by 7 out of 10 voters, according to a recent Quinnipiac Poll.
CNN’s head of communications went from responding repeatedly after-hours on the first Friday in June, with highlighted sections of a prepared statement to justify the network’s free pass for Presidents Biden and Trump– to silence. That was after being presented with news that Secretaries of State in California, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Idaho, among other state offices contacted for this inquiry, also do not recognize the term “presumptive nominee” in any official capacity.
In short, all evidence points to CNN creating the designation. Or, at least, the network refuses to cite where the term is used anywhere historically or officially.
"As the presumptive nominees of their parties both Biden and Trump will satisfy this requirement," a CNN Spokesperson reiterated in a statement.
Per CNN, that presumption isn't afforded to RFK Jr. The network said of his candidacy, "The mere application for ballot access does not guarantee that he will appear on the ballot in any state," the communications department wrote.
The sleight of hand has everything to do with a televised debate being held in June, three months earlier than the historically late September / October event.
"Joe Biden and Donald Trump are on the ballot in zero states right now. It's not until they formally receive the nomination... and then once their state parties submit those names to the secretary of state," Notre Dame election law professor Derek Muller explained.
Kennedy has seized upon the discrepancy.
"The problem that CNN has is that neither President Trump or President Biden is on any state ballot. They both have expectations that they're going to win the Democratic and Republican nominations, respectively. But that's not guaranteed," RFK Jr. told Hawaii ABC affiliate Island News in an interview. "What the FEC says is if CNN colludes with those campaigns to exclude me, it's an illegal campaign contribution."
The Kennedy campaign filed a campaign finance complaint with the FEC and even alleged collusion, referencing reporting by the Washington Post how debate conditions from the Biden campaign allegedly insisted on Kennedy’s exclusion.
It is unclear if the FEC can do anything about it. In the meantime, Mr. Kennedy also met 15% polling four times on a list of a dozen approved CNN polls. CNN says it is not counting one of the polls, from Monmouth University, over “lack of a ballot question.” CNN would not elaborate on specifics.
There is not much sympathy for CNN's flouting of the debate criteria in the online comment space. "Legal or not, it is insanely undemocratic," Corey Shideler reacted to the dispute.
Libertarian Larry Sharpe pointed out to The Hill: Rising that objective criteria is a legal standard for all others hosting presidential debates for a reason.
“They literally are putting people like Trump and Michael Cohen and making them felons, based on election law, based on campaign finance,” Sharpe said, “And the argument is that if CNN does this with people who they pick- and pushing out others, that they are giving away basically advertisements for free. This is millions of dollars in campaign contributions.”
“The FEC should step in and say stop,” Sharpe added.
"We're in uncharted territory. We've never had this kind of seriousness of a dispute arise. And it's not quite clear what the result might be, if the FEC concludes that CNN has breached what its standards are," Professor Muller concluded.
About: Edward R. Murrow award winner for "Continuing Coverage" of the 2023 Lahaina Fire. Emmy nominee 2024. Broadcast: Hawaii Island Bureau Chief KITV (ABC Hawaii) Print: Los Angeles Magazine, Newsweek, Spiked. @jeremyreporter on all platforms.