Washington — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign was unable to persuade ABC News, the host of next week’s presidential debate, to keep the microphones unmuted for her 90-minute debate against former President Donald Trump.
According to a letter sent to ABC News, his campaign has agreed that microphones will be muted when a candidate is not speaking. Back and forth over rules for debate on September 10.
“Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor, would be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, as it would protect Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President. We suspect this is the primary reason for her campaign’s insistence on muted microphones,” the letter, obtained by CBS News, said.
The Harris campaign also told CBS News that they were given assurances about how any crosstalk might be handled. If there is significant crosstalk between the candidates, the microphones might be unmuted. A candidate who constantly interrupts their opponent will be warned by the moderator and their comments may be broadcast to the audience. And, if the microphones don’t catch the exchange, a group of reporters in the room will report anything noteworthy.
“Despite our concerns, we understand there is a risk that Donald Trump will abandon the debate entirely, as he has previously threatened, if we do not accept his preferred format,” the letter reads. “We do not wish to jeopardize the debate. For this reason, we accepted the full set of rules proposed by ABC, including muted microphones.”
The Biden campaign had requested that candidates’ microphones be muted when their opponents were speaking During the match There was a conversation between Presidents Biden and Trump in June, which was hosted by CNN.
Trump’s campaign opposed changing the rules for the September debate.
“We agreed to the same rules. I don’t know, it doesn’t make a difference to me,” Trump said while campaigning in Virginia on Aug. 26. “I probably would have wanted it on, but the consensus was it would be the same as last time. In that case, it was muted. I didn’t like it last time, but it worked out OK.”
In a statement to CBS News on Tuesday night, Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said that “We are thrilled that Kamala Harris and her team of Biden campaign survivors have finally accepted the already agreed-upon rules for the debate, which they wrote in advance. Americans want to hear both candidates present their competing viewpoints to voters, unbiased by what has happened. No notes, no meetings, no advance copies of questions. We’ll see you next Tuesday in Philadelphia.”