Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., seen here on March 16, raised the possibility that the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol was not a “true insurrection” and expressed concern about the “weaponization of government” against those charged with crimes in connection to the riot.
Jeremy Lee joined KITV after over a decade & a half in broadcast news from coast to coast on the mainland. Jeremy most recently traveled the country documenting protests & civil unrest.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., seen here on March 16, raised the possibility that the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol was not a “true insurrection” and expressed concern about the “weaponization of government” against those charged with crimes in connection to the riot.
The Federal Election Commission has confirmed with Island News that the designation given by CNN to Presidents Biden and Trump to appear exclusively in a June televised debate is not officially recognized.
WASHINGTON D.C. (Island News) -- The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has confirmed with Island News that the designation given by CNN to Presidents Biden and Trump to appear exclusively in a June televised debate is not officially recognized.
Island News asked the FEC if the designation "presumptive nominee," which CNN has cited to numerous press outlets to justify a direct pass for the former presidents, is used at all by the FEC.
"That phrase is not in the FEC's debate regulation," an FEC spokesperson told Island News.
The FEC could not elaborate further on the discrepancy, as an official complaint has been filed by the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. campaign over CNN's adoption of the debate criteria -- which requires candidates to be on enough ballots officially to win a potential 270 electoral votes. That complaint will be evaluated by the commission.
The mark is achievable in late August / September by major party candidates, after national conventions and official candidate certification state by state. But as the June 27 debate is being held for the first time, three months prior to the historical late September event date, an Island News investigation discovered that no candidate can actually meet the criteria.
Island News asked the co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates if the term "presumptive nominee" (CNN's oft referenced designation of the former Presidents) is ever used to meet debate participation criteria.
"No," CPD co-chairman Frank Fahrenkopf wrote, "Until the conventions take place, we don't know who the nominees will be."
The Commission on Presidential Debate's website also states that major party candidates are not given automatic entry into the debates, but must abide by the same standards as all other political parties.
After being informed of the discrepancy, CNN would not respond to direct inquiry into if the "presumptive nominee" designation was invented by the network's communications department for the purpose of arguing legitimacy for the June 27 debate.
"Presumptive nominee" is also not recognized by any Secretaries of State that were contacted as part of this investigation. The Hawaii Office of Elections also confirmed that there are currently no candidates officially on the ballot, but it has been political parties that have won ballot access, to be exercised later this year.
"The problem that CNN has- is that neither president Trump or president Biden is on any state ballot," RFK Jr. told Island News. "They both have expectations that they're going to win the Democratic and Republican nominations respectively. But that's not guaranteed."
Watch Island News full interview with RFK Jr. at the bottom of this article.
The following are additional excerpts from Mr. Kennedy's interview with Island News on June 5.
RFK Jr.: FEC says, if CNN colludes with those campaigns to exclude me, it's an illegal campaign contribution. And we filed a complaint with FEC to make sure they enforce that law.
Island News: As far as exclusion goes, Ross Perot was excluded in 1996 in debates, though he participated in 1992, and even won close to 19% of the popular vote in 92. Is challenging with the Federal Election Commission any different today than it was for Perot in 96?
RFK Jr.: The system is far more politicized. It's much more difficult to get on the ballot today after Ross Perot and after Ralph Nader in 2001. The parties got together and agreed on criteria for qualifying for the ballot in each state. And they deliberately made the criteria so onerous that they believed that nobody would ever be able to qualify for it. They raised the number of signatures that we needed- over a million today.
We are exceeding all of their metrics.
In Hawaii, we got our own political party, the 'We the People' party. We got on the ballot in Hawaii in February. We got enough signatures to get on the ballot, get our party registered. The DNC then sued us to keep us off of the ballot. The Hawaii court came back after hearings and said the DNC had not met its burden, so we will be on the ballot in Hawaii, but we expect that kind of litigation in every state.
Island News: Is it one party more than the other? Is it the Democrats more than the Republicans, for example?
RFK Jr.: The Democrats are actively trying to keep us off the ballot in every state. The Republicans- you know, President Trump has begun attacking me a lot. And actually I draw a lot more voters from President Trump than President Biden. I get about 57% of our followers saying that if I leave the race... that they're going to vote for President Trump.
The DNC has $3 billion, and their big strategy is to keep people from running against President Biden, using court cases against Donald Trump- using the courts to get me off the ballot. They apparently don't believe that their candidate can win in a fair fight.
Island News: Can you tell me about some alternative media platforms- if there is any interest? For example, we heard that maybe, possibly X would host a debate. Has there been any movement in digital spaces?
RFK Jr.: Well, there's a lot of people who would like to host the debate. Elon Musk has offered to host it. We've accepted it. And he would do it in conjunction with News Nation, which is another network. But you know, the problem is trying to get President Biden or President Trump to go to a debate.
Island News: Why do you think that is?
RFK Jr.: I think that they both feel comfortable debating each other, because they keep it kind of on the culture war issues, they keep it on abortion and guns and the border. They never talk about like, what are we gonna do with the $34 trillion debt, which the two of them ran up.
Neither of them want to talk about the continual-- the addiction to wars.
Island News: Any final thoughts?
RFK Jr.: I think if people vote for a candidate out of hope, out of inspiration, that I'm gonna win the race, if they vote out of fear, then President Biden or President Trump will win. And I have five months to convince the American public- that they can afford to vote out of hope other than out of fear."
The Biden and Trump campaigns did not respond to a request for comment, nor have they responded yet to an open offer for equal interview time.
Island News has learned the Federal Election Commission and the Commission on Presidential Debates both do not recognize the term “presumptive nominee” that CNN granted to exclusively qualify former president Donald Trump and President Joe Biden for the debate stage. Third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke about the apparent snub, and what his campaign plans to do going forward.
Jeremy Lee joined KITV after over a decade & a half in broadcast news from coast to coast on the mainland. Jeremy most recently traveled the country documenting protests & civil unrest.
