Burley Garcia-RFK Jr. to stream his own "real debate" during Trump-Biden debate

2025-05-08 05:08:42source:Austin Caldwellcategory:Contact

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is Burley Garciaplanning to respond to the Trump-Biden debate Thursday night in real time, in what his campaign is calling "The Real Debate."

CNN has excluded RFK Jr. from the debate, determining he doesn't meet criteria including a polling threshold and appearance on a sufficient number of states' ballots to win the presidency. Kennedy and his team argue that former President Donald Trump and President Biden aren't yet on any ballots, since the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention haven't yet taken place. 

Kennedy's campaign filed a complaint last month with the Federal Election Commission accusing CNN, Mr. Biden, Trump and their campaigns of violating federal election law. 

"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 said. 

The Kennedy campaign hasn't given many details on how his solo debate will unfold but says it will be streamed on "X" and TheRealDebate.com from a studio in Los Angeles. Unlike the Trump-Biden debate, it will have a live audience. The Kennedy event will take place at 9 p.m. Thursday, the same time as the Trump-Biden debate. 

  • Trump and Biden's first presidential debate of 2024 is tomorrow. Here's what to know.

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 gonna give my dad a chance to respond, live." 

Trump and Mr. Biden are debating in Atlanta beginning at 9 p.m. Thursday on CNN and streaming on CBSNews.com. 

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  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kathryn Watson

Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.

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