Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will participate in his own town hall event next week on the same night that CNN is set to host a Republican presidential primary debate in Iowa.
"Establishment insiders will be on the CNN stage and outsiders will be speaking directly to the people," Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital.
CNN has said that to qualify, candidates "must receive at least 10% in three separate national and/or Iowa polls of Republican caucusgoers or primary voters that meet CNN’s standards for reporting." One of the three polls must be "an approved CNN poll" of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers, the network added.
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CNN announced earlier in the day that only former President Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have qualified. However, Trump is participating in a Fox News Channel town hall that same night and won’t attend the CNN event, leaving only Haley and DeSantis on stage.
"Ratings wasteland CNN has not only guaranteed themselves the most boring presidential ‘debate’ in modern history with two career politicians reciting consultant-vetted talking points, but the network has exposed itself to be actively engaging in egregious interference with the Iowa GOP caucus and disrespecting GOP voters," the Ramaswamy campaign said.
"Censorship, cherry-picking polls, and legal threats are just the mainstream media’s latest tactics to prop up their favorite puppet," the campaign continued before adding that CNN "disgracefully cut short" a town hall event with Ramaswamy last month.
CNN insiders have pushed back, insisting the December town hall was not cut short and any legal threats were a result of the Ramaswamy campaign uploading the entire town hall.
"The criteria was set on December 7 for the January 10 Iowa debate and Trump, Haley and DeSantis qualified. Ramaswamy’s December CNN Town Hall ran the full length, and as far as uploading the video online, any individual cannot upload an hour of content from a cable television channel onto YouTube. These are the same rules that apply to the NFL, Oscars, ‘Game of Thrones,’ or other programming. You can’t post an hour of a NFL game, and you can’t post an hour cut from CNN," a CNN insider told Fox News Digital.
To counter CNN’s debate, Ramaswamy will have a live-studio audience town hall hosted by podcaster Tim Pool from Des Moines.
Ramaswamy also took to social media on Tuesday to detail his grievances with CNN.
CNN declined comment.
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In December, Ramaswamy sparred with CNN anchor Abby Phillip at the Iowa town hall after she attempted to press him on his explosive debate remarks, specifically his claim that Jan. 6 was an "inside job."
As Ramaswamy accused the government of systemically lying in recent years and claimed that federal agents were within the crowd on Jan. 6, he mocked Phillip's interruptions as proof that "the establishment doesn't approve this message."
"I know it's very uncomfortable for you. I know this is an uncomfortable issue for many people, but we have to do the truth here," Ramaswamy told the CNN anchor.
Ramaswamy's comments were repeatedly welcomed with applause by the GOP-friendly audience as Phillip continued sparring with the White House hopeful.
Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
