(NewsNation) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign filed a complaint Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) claiming CNN is excluding him from a June 27 debate.
The independent candidate is desperately trying to appear on stage with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. So far, however, he has yet to meet the criteria for making the cut.
The long-shot candidate is arguing those very qualifications are designed to keep him off the stage.
In his complaint, the RFK Jr. campaign essentially argues CNN’s debate rules amount to an illegal campaign contribution to Trump and Biden.
As it stands now, CNN’s rules for qualification prohibit Kennedy from participating as they require a candidate to receive more than 15% in four polls recognized by the network and be on the ballot in enough states to reach 270 electoral votes.
While he does not meet that criteria yet, the campaign has until June 20, seven days before the debate, to do so.
RFK Jr. will appear on the presidential ballot in seven states, and the team has collected enough signatures in nine others to total 229 electoral votes.
CNN issued a statement to NewsNation.
“The law in virtually every state provides that the nominee of a state-recognized political party be allowed ballot access without petitioning. As the presumptive nominees of their parties both Biden and Trump will satisfy this requirement,” the statement read in part. “RFK Jr. does not currently meet our polling criteria, which, like the other objective criteria, were set before issuing invitations to the debate.”
The FEC declined a NewsNation request to comment.