A group of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supporters gathered outside the White House to protest his exclusion from CNN’s presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
The protest began at 4 p.m. and teetered out shortly after 7 p.m. At its height, event organizer and Kennedy campaign Virginia field director Jason Amatucci claimed that about 75 people were in attendance, though by the end, it had decreased to just over a dozen.
Protesters chanted and brandished protest signs, including slogans such as “No Debate? No Democracy” and “Kennedy speaks for me.”
Mostly, protesters spoke about why they supported Kennedy, and organizers passed around a megaphone so volunteers could give their perspectives.
Amatucci, who has been with the Kennedy campaign since July 2023, said the event was organized in two days. It consisted of mostly Virginia volunteers, some of whom drove from three hours away.
“We wanted to show solidarity and stand with Mr. Kennedy … showing our support for him to be included in the debate,” Amatucci said. “We think it’s a collusion by Trump and Biden and CNN to monetize our democracy, and it’s unfair to Mr Kennedy.”
He stressed the necessity of Kennedy making the ABC News debate in September.
“And it’s really, you know, we talk about all this democracy,” he said. “Everyone talks about democracy. Well, this is democracy. Do people want a third choice? And it’s Mr. Kennedy, and he does have a chance to win. He just has to get in front of the American public, and he needs to do that on the debate stage to show the differences that he has between the uniparty, as many people call it.”
Amatucci elaborated on Kennedy’s statement that his exclusion from the debate was illegal.
“It’s a campaign contribution,” he said. “They’re basically giving all this free time. … They’re monetizing our democracy. … CNN is making money on this. Through advertising dollars because guess who advertizes on CNN? Big Pharma. So Big Pharma is funding this debate, and they’re keeping Kennedy off in a roundabout way.”
Other volunteers speaking with the Washington Examiner gave their perspective on why they were protesting and why they supported Kennedy.
Annabeth, a singer-songwriter, volunteer, and former Biden voter, has been with the campaign for the past six months. She told the Washington Examiner that the climate is her biggest concern, and she believes Kennedy is the best for the environment, even surpassing the Green Party.
“RFK Jr. is like a dreamboat,” she said, pointing to his work as an environmental lawyer.
Annabeth first discovered Kennedy during his appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast, which affected her to the extent that she jokingly said her life could almost be categorized as “B.C. and A.D.” around her discovery of the podcast episode.
Everyone who spoke with the Washington Examiner said that the Kennedy campaign itself was evenly split between liberals and conservatives, but most were previous Biden voters in 2020.
Despite previous support for Biden, all ruled out supporting another candidate.
Kennedy faced a major campaign setback when he failed to meet CNN’s strict debate requirements, an opportunity that would have given him his biggest platform yet. He is instead hosting his own debate simultaneously.
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“‘The Real Debate’ is an event you will not want to miss,” the Kennedy campaign said in a statement to the Washington Examiner when asked for further details on the debate.
Kennedy’s campaign raised just $2.6 million in May, according to Federal Election Commission filings, well below the $85 million Biden and the Democratic National Committee raised in May and the $141 million that Trump and the Republican National Committee raised in the same month.
