The Trump and Harris campaigns are debating the presidential debate rules despite having previously reached an agreement.
Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden agreed to a second scheduled debate on September 10 hosted by ABC. However, Vice President Kamala Harris, who was crowned the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out of the race, reportedly wants to alter the agreement.
Both campaigns seem to disagree about how the live microphones should work, according to Politico. The Biden and Trump campaigns had agreed to let the networks mute each candidate’s microphone while their opponent was speaking, but Harris’ campaign prefers that the microphones remain live throughout the debate.
“We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,” Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign’s senior adviser for communications, told Politico.
“Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own,” he continued. “We suspect Trump’s team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don’t think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button.”
The Trump campaign claims Harris’ team is overly demanding.
“Enough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate. 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,” Jason Miller, senior adviser for Trump, told Politico.
“If Kamala Harris isn’t smart enough to repeat the messaging points her handlers want her to memorize, that’s their problem,” he continued. “This seems to be a pattern for the Harris campaign. They won’t allow Harris to do interviews, they won’t allow her to do press conferences, and now they want to give her a cheat sheet for the debate. My guess is that they’re looking for a way to get out of any debate with President Trump.”
Fallon denied some of Miller’s claims about the debate negotiations.
“All three parties (Trump, Harris, and ABC) have agreed to standing and no notes, and we never sought otherwise,” Fallon told Politico.
In a Sunday post on TruthSocial, Trump criticized ABC, hinting about his dissatisfaction with the agreed-upon debate with Harris.
“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?” he wrote.
“Will panelist Donna Brazil give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton? Will Kamala’s best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise,” he continued.
“Where is Liddle’ George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Will he be involved. They’ve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!!”
Harris holds a slight lead over Trump, according to RealClearPolitics’ aggregate of polling data.