Ted Johnson
Kamala Harris‘ presidential campaign is taking a different approach to the rules for the upcoming ABC News debate than Joe Biden did: They don’t want muted mics.
But Donald Trump‘s campaign does want the network to hit mute on whoever is not selected to speak.
“Trump should honor his commitment to debate VP Harris on ABC on Sept 10 and he should reject his handlers’ attempts to muzzle him via a muted microphone,” Harris campaign spokesman Brian Fallon wrote on X this morning. “The VP is ready to debate Trump live and uncensored. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button.”
Politico reported earlier today that Trump’s team is insisting that the ABC News debate have to same terms as the June 27 CNN debate between Trump and President Joe Biden. “Enough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate,” Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller told Politico. “The Harris camp, after having already agreed to the CNN rules, asked for a seated debate, with notes, and opening statements. We said no changes to the agreed upon rules.”
Having a hot mic during the duration of the debate will capture exchanges between the candidates. That includes any outbursts from Trump, as happened in the 2020 and 2016 debates. The Harris campaign apparently sees such a scenario as potentially favorable to her, as it would capture what they see as Trump’s unhinged nature. The Biden campaign, though, sought the muted mics given the first debate of 2020, when Trump repeatedly interrupted him to the point that Biden told him to “shut up.”
Trump, meanwhile, is now questioning why he should do the debate.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday evening, he wrote, “I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl’s(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” The debate will be moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis.
Trump has a long history of criticizing the host network or debate moderators in advance of an event, as if to place blame should things go poorly. In advance of the CNN debate in June, his campaign claimed that he would “not be treated fairly.” But after the debate went poorly for Biden, Trump praised moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.