Trump, Harris agree to mute mics for Sep 10 debate
Washington: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he has “reached an agreement” to have closed microphones at the September 10 debate with Democratic rival Kamala Harris, noting that “the rules will be the same as the last CNN debate, which seemed to work out well for everyone”.
The Harris campaign did not immediately return a request for confirmation about the ABC-hosted debate.
The candidates campaigns clashed on Monday over the previously agreed-upon debate, with the Vice-President’s team seeking a return to open microphones while Trump threatened to pull out entirely after suggesting the network was biased.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump said the rules for next month’s debate will be the same as they were for the June CNN debate he had with President Joe Biden, whose poor performance led him to drop out of the 2024 race.
“The Debate will be ‘stand up,’ and candidates cannot bring notes, or ‘cheat sheets.’ We have also been given assurance by ABC that this will be a ‘fair and equitable’ Debate, and that neither side will be given the questions in advance,” Trump wrote.
The CNN debate did not have a live audience. Trump’s post did not mention that.
Harris’ campaign had said it wanted the broadcaster to keep the candidates’ microphones on throughout the event, not muted when their opponent was speaking as in the last presidential debate. So-called “hot mics” can help or hurt political candidates, catching offhand comments that sometimes were not meant for the public.
While Trump’s team said it had already agreed to have closed microphones, Trump later told reporters that he preferred to have his microphone kept on.
Trump’s campaign has floated an additional debate on September 4 on Fox News network but the Harris team rejected that.