Donald Trump announced for a second time that he would participate in a presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris hosted by ABC News and suggested that the question of whether microphones will be muted when a candidate isn’t speaking had been resolved.
But a person briefed on the Harris campaign’s thinking said the issue of whether the microphones will be muted — something the Trump team favors and the Harris team does not — remains an open discussion. A spokesperson for ABC declined to comment.
Trump wrote on his social media website that the rules of the debate “will be the same as the last CNN Debate, which seemed to work out well for everyone except, perhaps,” President Joe Biden.
The debate hosted by CNN, which took place in Atlanta on June 27, was calamitous for Biden, precipitating his decision on July 21 to end his reelection effort. During that debate, microphones for the candidates were muted when they weren’t speaking, a term encouraged by the Biden team.
That was ultimately seen by Trump’s advisers as beneficial to him, because it prevented the former president from the type of frequent and self-harming eruptions he is prone to. Instead, the focus was on Biden and his struggles to articulate his thoughts.
Politico reported Monday that the Harris and Trump team had hit an impasse over whether the microphones will be muted for the Sept. 10 debate, set to take place in Philadelphia.
Trump’s team accused the Harris team of a bait and switch. Yet Trump himself, in an appearance on Monday in Virginia, said he personally didn’t care.
“Doesn’t matter to me,” Trump said. “I’d rather have it probably on. But the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time.”
Ammar Moussa, a Harris spokesperson, said in a statement, “Both candidates have publicly made clear their willingness to debate with unmuted mics for the duration of the debate to fully allow for substantive exchanges between the candidates — but it appears Donald Trump is letting his handlers overrule him. Sad!”
The Sept. 10 debate was first agreed to when Biden was still in the race. The Harris team planned to stick with it, but Trump vacillated, and then announced in a news conference roughly three weeks ago that he would be there. Then on Sunday, he raised the prospect he might not attend after all, claiming the network was biased against him. Harris’ team on Monday publicly pushed the issue of the microphones.
