Donald Trump issued a brief but rambling post blaming President Joe Biden for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. being shut out of the presidential debates — but then indicated the long-shot challenger had no place onstage.
Kennedy accused the president and former president of "colluding" to exclude him from a June 27 debate hosted by CNN, which would require him to hit 15 percent in four national polls and be listed on the ballot in enough states to have a chance to win 270 electoral votes. But Trump claimed his Democratic rival was behind the move that he also seems to strongly favor.
"Crooked Joe Biden does not want RFK Jr. in the debates because Junior’ is far left him and they would be debating over the same territory, like ridiculous Open Borders and the Green New Scam, both of which are killing our Country," Trump posted on Truth Social. "He’s also sharper and far more intelligent than Joe, all making for a bad combination of ingredients."
"I don’t care if Junios’ joins the Debate, but right now his polling numbers are very low, he is not properly qualified in the States, and he seems to be on a downward path," Trump added. "Junior’ needs more than his name to get on the 'stage!'"
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Both major party campaigns have expressed unhappiness with CNN's qualification rules, which could potentially allow Kennedy to join the debate, and a Trump official said a network producer assured the campaign that "RFK will not be on the stage."
A Biden adviser said his campaign made clear to CNN that they accepted the network's invitation on the condition that the debate would be one-on-one between the president and Trump.
ABC News, which is hosting a second debate on Sept. 10, has released similar qualifying criteria.