Washington — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign failed to convince ABC News, the host of next week’s presidential debate, to keep the microphones on during the 90-minute debate against former President Donald Trump.
His campaign agreed to leave microphones muted when a candidate is not speaking, according to a letter sent to ABC News, ending back and forth on the rules for the debate on September 10.
“Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor, will be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the vice president. We suspect this is the primary reason his campaign insists that the microphones be muted,” the letter, obtained by CBS News, reads.
Harris’ campaign also told CBS News that it has received assurances about how potential exchanges between candidates will be handled. Microphones can be turned off if there are significant exchanges between candidates. A candidate who consistently interrupts his opponent will be warned by the moderator and his comments may be relayed to the audience. And if the microphones don’t pick up the exchanges, a group of reporters in the room will flag anything that is noteworthy.
“Despite our concerns, we understand that Donald Trump may walk away from this debate, as he has previously threatened to do, if we do not accept his preferred format,” the letter reads. “We do not want to compromise the debate. That is why we have agreed to all of ABC’s proposed rules, including muting the microphones.”
The Biden campaign had requested that candidates’ microphones be muted when their opponent was speaking. during the match between President Biden and Trump in June, hosted by CNN.
The Trump campaign opposed any changes to the rules for the September debate.
“We agreed to the same rules. I don’t know, I don’t care,” Trump said on Aug. 26 while campaigning in Virginia. “I probably would have preferred to have it turned on, but the agreement was that it would be the same as last time. In this case, the sound was muted. I didn’t like the last time, but it worked out.”
In a statement provided to CBS News Tuesday night, Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said: “We are thrilled that Kamala Harris and her Biden campaign holdover team … have finally accepted the already agreed-upon debate rules they wrote in the first place. Americans want to hear both candidates present their competing visions to voters, free from what has been. No notes, no session, no advance copies of questions. We’ll see you in Philadelphia next Tuesday.”
