Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate in the United States, may not participate in the first presidential debate of 2024 due to failing to meet the conditions set by the hosting news agency CNN by the deadline.
CNN, the host of the June 27 debate, previously stated that only President Joe Biden and his Republican challenger Donald Trump met the debate participation conditions by the deadline of 12 a.m. (Eastern Time, 0400 GMT) on Thursday.
These conditions included appearing on enough state ballots to have a chance of winning the presidential election and receiving at least 15% support in four independent national polls.
So far, Kennedy has only achieved at least 15% support in three qualifying polls and, according to CNN's statistics, has qualified on the ballot in only six states, which is insufficient to win the presidential election.
Both CNN (a part of Warner Bros. Discovery) and Kennedy's campaign team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Kennedy has stated that the network's standards were unfairly applied to prevent him from debating alongside other candidates.
Kennedy's campaign team has requested the Federal Election Commission to take action by Thursday to prevent CNN, Biden, and Trump from holding the debate on June 27 unless changes are made. The Federal Election Commission declined to comment.
