Before the first debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, ABC has turned down the Harris campaign’s request to have microphones unmuted.
An email from the network, obtained by the New York Post, outlines debate rules similar to those from Trump’s June 27 CNN debate with President Biden. These rules include no audience, a ban on pre-written notes or props, and enforcing muted microphones when candidates are not speaking.
JUST IN: ABC rejects Kamala's attempt to change the debate rules as she appears to be increasingly worried about the upcoming debate.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 29, 2024
Harris, who was too nervous to do a debate on Fox News, tried making last-minute changes on ABC.
These rules included having a "cheat sheet,"… pic.twitter.com/W63wZTEXMd
Both Trump and Harris will stand while debating on stage and will be permitted only a pen, a pad of paper, and a single bottle of water.
The Trump campaign strongly insisted that the debate follow the same rules as the June debate with Biden.
On Monday, the Harris campaign expressed a preference for keeping the microphones on throughout the 90-minute debate.
An anonymous senior Trump supporter revealed that both campaigns were notified in writing last week that the network would adopt the same format as the CNN debate for September 10. Both campaigns have confirmed that the debate is scheduled to proceed.
“At this point, Team Harris is going to be taking an ‘L’ when they finally accept, as the debate rules aren’t changing, or they’ll take an even bigger ‘L’ if they back out of the debate because the Dana Bash/CNN interview goes poorly,” the advocate told the outlet.
Harris spokesperson Brian Fallon stated that his team was asked to agree to the Trump campaign’s request for muted microphones. Nonetheless, he mentioned that the Harris campaign is still “in discussions with ABC regarding the final rules.”
“Our latest understanding is that even though Trump said Monday he would be fine with an unmuted mic, his handlers don’t trust him to spar live with VP Harris and are asking ABC to ignore Trump’s comments and keep the mics muted or else they will back out of the debate for a third time,” Fallon wrote in an X post on Thursday.
“We have been asked to accede to Trump’s handlers’ wishes on this point for the sake of preserving the debate. We find the Trump’s team’s stance to be weak, and remain in discussions with ABC on the final rules.”
Update: Our latest understanding is that even though Trump said Monday he would be fine with an unmuted mic, his handlers don’t trust him to spar live with VP Harris and are asking ABC to ignore Trump’s comments and keep the mics muted or else they will back out of the debate for…
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) August 29, 2024
On Wednesday, Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller told Newsmax that the Harris campaign was “completely mistaken.”
“Everything was agreed to and set last week,” he said. “The Harris people are trying to distract and come up with something shiny to move away from the fact that she’s not doing interviews.”
The debate on September 10 will take place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. This will be Harris’s first presidential debate since 2020.
