Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded quickly to the Trump-Biden debate on Thursday night, in what his campaign called “The Real Debate.”
CNN did not include RFK Jr. in the debate that involved only former President Trump and President Biden, stating that he didn’t meet criteria such as a polling threshold and being on a sufficient number of states’ ballots to become the next U.S. President.
Kennedy and his campaign team contended that neither former President Donald Trump nor President Biden are yet on the ballots, as the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention are yet to take place.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission last month, accusing CNN, Mr. Biden, Trump, and their campaigns of violating federal election law.
Kennedy’s response was streamed on “X,” formerly known as Twitter and TheRealDebate.com, from a studio in Los Angeles. John Stossel, formerly of ABC News and Fox News, served as the moderator during Kennedy’s lone debate.
The CNN debate was shown but paused after Mr. Biden and Trump gave their answers to each question to allow Kennedy to respond.
Kennedy accused both the presidential candidates, Democrats and Republicans, of inflation and the national deficit, the first two questions posed by CNN’s moderators Thursday night. He also criticized both for their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the closure of businesses.
On the issue of border security, Kennedy said Trump was “more right” than Mr. Biden, but on foreign policy, he heavily criticized both candidates. While Trump accused President Biden of allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine, Kennedy blamed Trump for also transferring weapons to Ukraine during his presidency and walking away from a nuclear treaty with Russia.
Kennedy also gave his support to Israel in its war against Hamas and against any Iran-backed proxies.
Kennedy reiterated the importance of funding Social Security, stating, “It would be outrageous if the United States government did not live up to its full faith and credit in paying back those obligations.”
Kennedy’s appearance included a live audience, unlike the Trump-Biden debate.
Earlier this week, in a video posted to Twitter, one of Kennedy’s sons described his father’s debate plan, saying Kennedy would “have the other two candidates up there as well, saying what they say live, and then we’re going to give my dad a chance to respond, live.”
