{"id":2271582,"date":"2024-06-19T14:06:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T18:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-the-fec-say-that-cnn-excluding-rfk-jr-from-its-june-27-would-violate-federal-law\/"},"modified":"2024-06-19T14:11:41","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T18:11:41","slug":"fact-check-did-the-fec-say-that-cnn-excluding-rfk-jr-from-its-june-27-would-violate-federal-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-the-fec-say-that-cnn-excluding-rfk-jr-from-its-june-27-would-violate-federal-law\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Did the FEC Claim CNN&#8217;s Exclusion of RFK Jr. from its June 27 Event Breaks Federal Law?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">38<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-did-the-fec-say-that-cnn-excluding-rfk-jr-from-its-june-27-would-violate-federal-law%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2271582&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. \u2064campaign has stated that \u200cCNN would be \u2062breaking\u200d federal law if it excluded Kennedy from an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hutchinson-claims-he-has-qualified-for-first-republican-debate-rnc-yet-to-confirm\/\" title=\"Hutchinson asserts debate qualification, RNC confirmation pending.\">upcoming presidential debate<\/a>. This\u2063 claim was reported as misleading \u2062by\u2063 various sources, including an FEC spokesperson and CNN itself. \u2064The FEC\u2064 has clarified that \u200cit has not \u2063issued any public statement concerning CNN&#8217;s debate arrangements. Furthermore, CNN has outlined that\u200d Kennedy does not \u2062meet the network&#8217;s established criteria for debate participation\u2063 which include \u2062reaching certain polling\u2063 thresholds and \u200bbeing listed on enough state ballots.\u2063 The \u2063Kennedy campaign&#8217;s assertion relies \u2064on a misunderstanding or misrepresentation of a \u200dnews article, \u200crather than an official \u200cFEC pronouncement. \u2064The\u200b FEC guidelines emphasize\u200d the\u200b necessity for objective criteria \u2062in selecting debate participants, which CNN claims to have adhered \u200bto.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div id=\"ob-read-more-selector\">\n<p><span>The Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. campaign in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kennedy24.com\/fec_cnn_debate_violate_campaign_finance_laws_kennedy\"><span>statement<\/span><\/a><span>  claims that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) said CNN would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-education-sec-on-womens-school-sports-we-have-a-legal-responsibility-to-include-transgender-athletes\/\" title=\"Biden Education Sec On Women\u2019s School Sports: We Have a \u2018Legal Responsibility\u2019 to Include Transgender Athletes\">violate federal law<\/a> if it excluded Kennedy in the upcoming presidential debate on <\/span><span>June 27. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: Misleading<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>An FEC spokesperson told Check Your Fact that the commission has not issued a statement about the CNN debate. A CNN spokesperson refuted the claim, while an expert said CNN might have violated federal law.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Kennedy has restated that he is against a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/international\/4722819-rfk-jr-opposing-gaza-cease-fire-invokes-nazi-germany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Hill<\/a>. During an interview with Piers Morgan, Kennedy said Hamas needs to be \u201cdisarmed\u201d and suggested Hamas members are in refugee camps.<\/p>\n<p>A press release from the Kennedy campaign claims the FEC made a statement saying CNN\u2019s exclusion of Kennedy in the upcoming debate would be a violation of federal law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Federal Election Commission\u2019s (FEC) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-top-covid-experts-tell-biden-to-scrap-widespread-booster-shot-plan-in-tense-phone-call\/\" title=\"Report: Top COVID Experts Tell Biden To Scrap Widespread Booster Shot Plan In \u2018Tense\u2019 Phone Call\">recent public statement<\/a> regarding CNN\u2019s presidential debate makes clear CNN will violate federal law absent the inclusion of Robert F. Kennedy Jr,\u201d it reads, in part.<\/p>\n<p>This claim is misleading, however. The \u201cstatement\u201d the press release hyperlinks to is actually an article from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitv.com\/news\/cnn-debate-criteria-not-backed-by-fec-regulation\/article_150180ec-2796-11ef-87b4-f343cf4897c3.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">KITV<\/a>, a television station in Hawaii. The FEC confirmed with the outlet that \u201cthe designation given by CNN to Presidents Biden and Trump to appear exclusively in a June televised debate is not officially recognized.\u201d The FEC also confirmed that the phrase \u201cpresumptive nominee\u201d often used by CNN to refer to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump is not used by the FEC.<\/p>\n<p>There is no mention that CNN will violate federal law if , as claimed by the Kennedy statement.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe FEC has not issued any statement regarding the CNN debate,\u201d an FEC spokesperson told Check Your Fact in an email. The spokesperson also referenced guidelines from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecfr.gov\/current\/title-11\/chapter-I\/subchapter-A\/part-110\/section-110.13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations<\/a> on candidate debates, which state, in part, \u201cstaging organization(s) must use pre-established objective criteria to determine which candidates may participate in a debate.\u201d A summary article from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/updates\/fec-rules-governing-public-debates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FEC<\/a> was also referenced. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2023\/07\/20\/fact-check-did-rfk-jr-meet-with-then-president-trump-to-lead-a-vaccine-safety-commission\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Did RFK Jr. Meet With Then-President Trump To Lead A Vaccine Safety Commission)<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The statement claims CNN violated the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kennedy24.com\/fec_cnn_debate_violate_campaign_finance_laws_kennedy\"><span>Federal Election Campaign Act<\/span><\/a><span>  by not using \u201c\u2018pre-established\u2019 and \u2018objective\u2019 criteria to determine candidate participation.\u201d A CNN spokesperson pushed back against the claim in an email to Check Your Fact. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe law in virtually every state provides that the nominee of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rfk-jr-files-fec-complaint-claiming-cnn-biden-and-trump-engaged-in-flagrant-violations-in-planning-debates\/\" title=\"RFK Jr. lodges FEC complaint alleging CNN, Biden, and Trump violated debate rules\">state-recognized political party<\/a> will be allowed ballot access without petitioning. As the presumptive nominees of their parties both Biden and Trump will satisfy this requirement,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAs an independent candidate, under applicable laws RFK, Jr. currently does not. The mere application for ballot access does not guarantee that he will appear on the ballot in any state. In addition, RFK, Jr. does not currently meet our polling criteria, which, like the other objective criteria, were set before issuing invitations to the debate,\u201d the spokesperson continued. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>CNN outlined its criteria in a May 15 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com\/2024\/05\/15\/cnn-to-host-2024-election-presidential-debate-between-president-joe-biden-and-former-president-donald-j-trump-on-june-27\/\"><span>press release<\/span><\/a><span>. These requirements to qualify for the debate are: <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cfile a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission; a candidate\u2019s name must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/poll-election-shifting-percentage-of-voters-admit-to-illegal-voting-in-2020\/\" title=\"Survey: Significant Percentage of Voters Confess to Illegal Voting in 2020 Election\">270 electoral vote threshold<\/a> to win the presidency prior to the eligibility deadline; agree to accept the rules and format of the debate; and receive at least 15% in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters that meet CNN\u2019s standards for reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The polling window closes seven days before the June 27 debate, the press release states. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2022\/09\/07\/fact-check-robert-kennedy-jr-vaccines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Did Robert Kennedy Jr. Win A Supreme Court Case Declaring Covid-19 Vaccines Were Not Vaccines?)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Derek T. Muller, professor at Notre Dame Law School, told Check Your Fact via email that it appears that CNN is using different criteria for Trump and Biden when compared with Kennedy, but acknowledged that Kennedy may not meet polling criteria. He cited <a href=\"https:\/\/electionlawblog.org\/?p=143072\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">two<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/electionlawblog.org\/?p=143452\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">articles<\/a> from Election Law Blog.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt certainly looks like CNN is using different criteria for Trump and Biden than for any other candidates. The criteria is supposed to be objective, but CNN appears to be modifying its criteria to apply to the Republican and Democratic presumptive nominees,\u201d Muller said. \u201cThat in turn appears to violate federal campaign guidelines. Of course, Kennedy may not meet the polling criteria, in which case at least his eligibility to appear on stage would be moot as to this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy Jr.\u2019s campaign has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/05\/29\/robert-f-kennedy-jr-cnn-debate-fec-00160518\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">filed<\/a> a complaint with the FEC about the debate\u2019s criteria. As of publishing time, the FEC has not made a decision. <span>A Kennedy campaign spokesperson directed Check Your Fact via email to a June 18 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kennedy24.com\/fec_refuses_dismissal_complaint_cnn_excluding_kennedy_debate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">press release<\/a> reporting that the FEC has said it will not dismiss the complaint. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. campaign stated that excluding Kennedy from CNN&#8217;s June 27 presidential debate would breach federal law, according to the FEC. However, this claim is misleading. An FEC spokesperson clarified to Check Your Fact that the commission has not commented on the CNN debate situation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":613,"featured_media":2271584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-2154524800-scaled-e1718590446510.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29362],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2271582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-caller"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-2154524800-scaled-e1718590446510.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/613"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2271582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2271584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2271582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2271582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2271582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}