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RFK Jr. files FEC complaint over June 27 presidential debate criteria

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RFK Jr.’s campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission that accuses CNN, President Biden, former President Donald Trump and their campaigns of violating federal election law. 

The Kennedy campaign claims CNN is approaching the debate criteria differently for Kennedy, an independent candidate, than for Trump and Mr. Biden, the presumptive nominees of their respective parties. CNN is holding the first presidential debate in Atlanta on June 27, before either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party hold their conventions to formalize their nominees. The Kennedy campaign is alleging the debate is an illegal campaign contribution to both Mr. Biden and Trump. 

“CNN is making prohibited corporate contributions to both campaigns and the Biden committee and the Trump committee have accepted these prohibited corporate contributions,” the complaint says. 

CNN’s debate criteria says a candidate must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 threshold for the presidency, and receive at least 15% in four major national polls by June 20. Kennedy has not yet met the polling criteria or the ballot appearance criteria. 

Still, the Kennedy campaign argues that, since neither Trump nor Mr. Biden has been officially nominated, they aren’t eligible for any electoral votes, while Kennedy says he may qualify in a handful of states. Candidates still have several weeks to meet the qualification threshold. 

“By demanding our campaign meet different criteria to participate in the debate than Presidents Biden and Trump, CNN’s debate violates FEC law and is a large prohibited corporate contribution to both the Biden and Trump campaigns,” Kennedy said.

The Kennedy campaign is asking the FEC to find the parties in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act, and stop them from participating in the debate for now. 

CNN, however, defended their qualification rules. 

“The law in virtually every state provides that the nominee of a state-recognized political party will be allowed ballot access without petitioning,” a CNN spokesperson said. “As the presumptive nominees of their parties both Biden and Trump will satisfy this requirement. As an independent candidate, under applicable laws RFK, Jr. 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.”

Both the Biden and Trump campaigns have also agreed to debate on ABC on Sept. 10. The Biden campaign has accepted CBS News’ invitation for a vice-presidential debate this summer, although the Trump campaign has yet to respond. 



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UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell says Gaza is a “hellscape for children”

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UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell says Gaza is a “hellscape for children” – CBS News


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UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell tells “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that the malnutrition, hygiene and mental health for children in Gaza is “all terrible,” adding that it’s a “hellscape for children.”

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Sen. Mark Kelly says feds need to do a “better job” of letting Americans know “there’s a huge amount of misinformation” on election

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Washington — Sen. Mark Kelly said Sunday that the federal government needs to do its part to inform Americans of the vast swath of election misinformation that’s being consumed on social media platforms like X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.

“It’s up to us, the people who serve in Congress and in the White House to get the information out there, that there is a tremendous amount of misinformation in this election, and it’s not going to stop on Nov.  5,” Kelly said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” 

Kelly, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he’s seen these misinformation operations target not only his state of Arizona, but also other battleground states.

“There is a very reasonable chance I would put it in the 20 to 30% range, that the content you are seeing, the comments you are seeing, are coming from one of those three countries: Russia, Iran, China,” Kelly said.

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Sen. Mark Kelly on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Oct. 6, 2024.

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In a committee hearing last month on foreign threats to the 2024 election, Kelly presented screenshots of Russian-made web pages showing fabricated headlines designed to look like Fox News and The Washington Post, targeted at voters in battleground states. 

“So my constituents in Arizona and others — they seek to influence the outcome of these elections, and that is absolutely beyond the pale,” Kelly said at the Sept. 18 hearing. “We’ve got to do something about it.”

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump each have the support of 49% of Arizona voters, according to CBS News’ battleground tracker as of Sept. 30. 

In another battleground state, Pennsylvania, Trump returned Saturday to hold a rally in Butler three months after an attempted assassination on him. He was joined by members of his own party and billionaire Elon Musk, who said Trump was the only way to preserve democracy and warned of a last election if he does not win in November. 

Speaking to CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Kelly called the social media mogul a hypocrite. 

“He’s standing next to the guy that tried to overturn the 2020 election on Jan. 6, saying that this is somehow going to be the last election and they’re going to take away your vote,” Kelly said. “And you know, it just doesn’t pass the logic test.”

At the White House press briefing on Friday, President Biden – speaking from the podium for the first time since taking office – said he’s confident of a free and fair election but alluded to the 2021 insurrection at the Capitol in his concerns on whether it will be a peaceful transfer of power.    

“The things that Trump has said and the things that he said last time out when he didn’t like the outcome of the election were very dangerous,” Mr. Biden said. “If you notice, I noticed that the vice-presidential Republican candidate did not say he’d accept the outcome of the election, and they haven’t even accepted the outcome of the last election.”



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Ret. Gen. Frank McKenzie says Iran is the country that’s in a corner

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Ret. Gen. Frank McKenzie says Iran is the country that’s in a corner – CBS News


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Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, the former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, tells “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that “Iran is the country that’s in a corner” in the conflict in the Middle East, and says the “Israelis are certainly going to hit back.”

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