米大統領選ＴＶ討論会からの排除で苦情申し立て　無所属ケネディ氏

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米大統領選に無所属で出馬しているロバート・ケネディ・ジュニア氏は２８日、来月行われる第１回目のテレビ討論会を主催するＣＮＮがジョー・バイデン大統領、ドナルド・トランプ前大統領と結託して自身を排除したとして、連邦選挙委員会（ＦＥＣ）に苦情を申し立てた。ケネディ陣営が２９日、明らかにした。（写真は、１１月の米大統領選に無所属で立候補しているロバート・Ｆ・ケネディ・ジュニア氏）
　討論会は来月２７日に開催される。同陣営は、ＣＮＮが同氏に異なる参加条件を求めてきたと指摘。その結果バイデン、トランプ両氏を利することになり、違法だとしている。
　ケネディ陣営は特に、来月２０日までに、選挙人投票数が２７０に達するのに十分な数の州で立候補することを参加条件としている点を問題視。ケネディ氏の名前はこれまで七つの州で投票用紙に載っているが、条件達成には程遠い情勢だ。
　申し立ての中でケネディ氏の弁護士は、バイデン陣営はケネディ氏を討論会に出させないよう公然と要求する一方、報道によればトランプ氏陣営は「ケネディ不参加」の言質をＣＮＮから得ていると主張している。
　その上でＦＥＣに対し、「両陣営が連邦選挙運動法を順守するまで」は討論会を開かせないよう要請した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/05/30-16:49）

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has complained to the US election campaigns watchdog that cable news network CNN colluded with President Joe Biden and Donald Trump to exclude him from the first televised presidential debate, his campaign said Wednesday.
The independent candidate accuses CNN of demanding that he meet different qualification standards for the June 27 showdown than the Democratic leader and his Republican rival, making the debate an illegal campaign contribution to both.
Kennedy, the scion of America's most famous political clan, has no chance of winning in November, but Democrats and Republicans worry that so-called wildcard candidates could sway close contests in key swing states.
In a filing Tuesday to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), his attorneys said the Biden team had openly demanded that he be left out of the debate and noted US media reports that Trump received assurances from CNN that Kennedy would be excluded.
Kennedy's complaint asks the FEC to prohibit the frontrunners from holding the presidential debate... until the parties have come into compliance with the Federal Election Campaign Act.
Biden and Trump agreed this month to take part in the CNN debate -- their first on-stage meeting in nearly four years -- and another hosted by ABC on September 10.
Both candidates shunned the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which has run the events since 1988 and had proposed three debates in September to October.
At the heart of the complaint is a requirement by CNN that candidates' names have appeared on enough ballots by June 20 to be in with a chance of winning the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the White House.
Kennedy is currently on the ballot in seven states, meaning he is not yet close to that benchmark.
But he points out that nominations for Trump and Biden won't happen until their party conventions in July and August respectively.
The Democrats have announced that they will stage a virtual roll call at some point before the convention to meet Ohio's August 7 filing deadline.
But Kennedy's lawyers argue that before any of this happens, neither candidate's name would officially appear on any ballot.
The Commission on Presidential Debates -- which staged the events for 36 years -- had similar criteria, but its first match-up typically came in September, giving candidates much longer to meet the criteria.
CNN is admitting presidents Biden and Trump to the debate without requiring that they satisfy the electoral vote criteria while insisting Kennedy must satisfy it, the Independent?s campaign said in a statement.
That violates the requirement that debate criteria be 'pre-established' and 'objective.'
CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment but NBC reported a statement from the network pointing out that Kennedy does not meet the polling criteria, either.
CNN is requiring candidates to poll above 15 percent in four approved polls by June 20 but Kennedy has only met the benchmark in three polls.