Regarding the microphone issue, the Trump campaign raises new concerns about the September debate with Harris.
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is casting fresh doubts on the Sept. 10 debate on ABC amid a dispute over rules, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
According to the source, Trump’s team wants microphones muted during the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak, as was the case during the first debate with President Joe Biden.
And Trump himself took aim at the “biased” network on Sunday evening, complaining about reporter Jonathan Karl and a panel of “Trump haters” on his Truthout social platform. “Why would I debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” the former president asked.
The Harris campaign is requesting that ABC and other networks seeking to host a potential October debate keep microphones on, according to a senior campaign official, a change from the June debate when the then-Biden campaign wanted microphones muted except for when it was the candidate’s turn to speak.
Senior communications adviser for the Harris campaign Brian Fallon said in a statement, “We have informed ABC and other networks hoping to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the broadcast.” “From what we understand, the reason Trump’s advisors favor quiet microphones is that they don’t think their candidate can conduct himself like a president on his own for ninety minutes.
” We suspect Trump’s team hasn’t even told their bosses about this controversy because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don’t feel he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button.” Trump’s campaign has argued that when they agreed to the ABC debate with Harris at the top of the ticket, they agreed to the same guidelines as previous debates. Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said in a statement, “Enough of the gamesmanship.
We agreed to the ABC debate under the same terms as the CNN debate.” “The Harris camp asked for a seated debate, with notes and opening statements, after having already agreed to the CNN rules. We said there would be no changes to the agreed rules,” Miller said. “It’s interesting that this is coming out now, while the Harris campaign has begun its debate preparations. Even her own campaign spokesperson said the debate is over when the debate is over.They are obviously seeing something that bothers them.
” Miller’s assertion that the Harris campaign supported letting candidates take notes while they sat down was met with resistance. Politico broke the story on the microphone rule dispute first. Although Trump has consistently called for a different venue, such as a Fox News-hosted debate with a “full arena audience,” the ABC debate was formally scheduled earlier this month.
Nevertheless, the two contenders have participated in mock debates. With a limited schedule of campaign stops while she concentrates on debate preparations, Harris is expected to visit Georgia this week, according to aides. Trump, for his part, has included one of Harris’ former 2020 Democratic primary rivals, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. Several notable exchanges took place between Harris and Gabbard during the Democratic primary debates, where Harris criticized Gabbard for foreign policy while Gabbard challenged Harris’ record on criminal justice.
