Former President Trump on Thursday posted a video mocking independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for not meeting the requirements to appear in the first presidential debate.
The short video, recorded aboard Trump’s private jet, addressed reports that Kennedy did not have enough support in national polls and did not appear on enough state ballots to earn a spot in the upcoming CNN debate.
“I know RFK Jr. wants to try to get on stage on Thursday and, frankly, I would love to have him, because I don’t think he’s much of a debater and he has some very liberal and radical left-wing ideas,” Trump said in the video. “But you have to get certain numbers, that was the criteria, and he’s way below those numbers. He’s not even close.”
RFK JR. DOES NOT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, SAYS CNN
Former President Trump speaks to members of the Club 47 group at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“So I hope to see him there someday, but it seems to me that he won’t qualify on many fronts,” Trump continued. “They say it hurts Biden more than it hurts me, and I don’t know if that’s true or not. They say it hurts Biden because he’s a serious leftist person. If he is, that’s good; I don’t really care.”
To qualify for the Debate organized by CNN, candidates must receive at least 15% support in four different national polls. Candidates must also be on the ballots in enough states to make it hypothetically possible to collect the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the election.
Kennedy, the highest-performing 2024 candidate outside the Republican and Democratic parties, did not meet the criteria by the Thursday morning deadline, the network said.
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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, DC (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
A CNN spokesperson independently confirmed to Fox News that RFK Jr. did not qualify.
“You have to do better than six or seven points. Maybe one day it will be there, but I doubt it,” Trump concluded in his Thursday video.
The independent candidate He was only able to produce the necessary support figure of 15% in three separate national polls, according to a CNN press release. The network also reported that Kennedy had not qualified for election in enough states to meet the possible threshold of 270 electoral college votes.
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President Biden speaks to the press in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
“Presidents Biden and Trump do not want me on the debate stage and CNN illegally agreed to their lawsuit,” Kennedy said in his own statement Thursday. “My exclusion from the debate by Presidents Biden and Trump is undemocratic, un-American and cowardly.”
“Americans want an independent leader who will break the two-party duopoly,” he added. “They want a president who will overcome the divide, restore the middle class, dismantle the war machine and end the chronic disease epidemic.”
