Is Evan McMullin in the First 2016 Presidential Debate?

Evan McMullin is the Chief Policy director for House Republicans and is reportedly launching an independent presidential campaign. (YouTube/TEDx Talks Video)

Evan McMullin – the independent candidate for president – is not taking the stage on September 26 in the first presidential debate because he did not meet the polling threshold set by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

McMullin is a former CIA counter-terrorism officer running as an Independent. However, he is having trouble making it on ballots in some states, such as California, said The Los Angeles Times.

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein also did not make the cut. The Presidential Commission on debates explained that only candidates who reached an average of at least 15 percent in five recent polls made the cut.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are squaring off during the presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York. It starts at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Evan McMullin’s Twitter profile picture. (Twitter)

McMullin has written about his displeasure with the decision. He wrote on his website: “Let’s get this out of the way up front: the presidential debates are rigged. The Commission on Presidential Debates will never let anyone but the two major party nominees into the debate. Why? Because the “Commission” for Presidential Debates isn’t a public commission at all — it’s a corporation owned and operated by the two major parties.”

McMullin says he will be live tweeting the debate. You can find his Twitter page here.

McMullin has strongly criticized Trump. The Guardian reported that he said, “Donald Trump poses a true threat to our national security by carrying Putin’s water in the United States,” also criticizing what he sees as a “nativist movement across Europe and in the United States.”