Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has backed off from its demand that microphones be unmuted for the duration of Democratic nominee’s upcoming debate against former President Donald Trump.
“Candidates’ microphones will be live only for the candidate whose turn it is to speak and muted when the time belongs to another candidate,” read the debate rules released by ABC News on Wednesday.
The Sep. 10 showdown in Philadelphia had been agreed to by both campaigns in early August, but the Harris team launched a last-minute bid to change the debate rules over fears that having microphones muted for parts of the 90-minute event would be favorable for Trump.
Harris’ senior adviser for communications Brian Fallon argued that the muted mics rule “fundamentally disadvantaged” the vice president, in a letter sent to the network before the rules were released, according to Politico.
Fallon contended that muted mics would “serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President.”
“We suspect this is the primary reason for his campaign’s insistence on muted microphones,” he wrote.
Fallon’s letter included verbal agreements about the debate format – not included in ABC News’s debate rules press release – that were apparently key in getting the Harris campaign to stand down from the microphone demand.
Those agreements include allowing the moderators to reprimand any candidate who interrupts and ask them to repeat the comment when the microphone is unmuted, as well as giving ABC News the option of keeping both microphones open during heated crosstalk, according to Politico.
Pool reporters traveling with Harris will also be given more access to the debate hall than the journalists accompanying President Biden were during the June 27 CNN debate, the report noted.
The rest of the agreed upon rules announced by the network are largely the same as the Biden-Trump debate.
The debate will have two commercial breaks; no opening statements; two-minute closing statements; candidates will stand behind podiums; no pre-written notes or props will be allowed; candidates will get a pen and notepad; candidates have two-minutes to answer questions, two-minutes for rebuttals, and one extra minute for follow-ups, clarifications, or responses; and staffers cannot interact with the debaters during breaks.
No audience will be present during the debate, which will be held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
The debate will be moderated by ABC “World News Tonight” anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis, who will be the only people asking questions.
Trump, who won a Tuesday coin flip, opted to deliver the final closing statement and allowed Harris to choose her podium. The vice president selected the right podium position on screen (stage left), according to the network.
The debate will air live at 9 pm ET on ABC, the network’s streaming platform, Disney+ and Hulu. It will also be available for simulcast by other networks.
The Trump campaign indicated that it was eager to get on with the debate now that Harris had moved past the mic hangup.
“We are thrilled that Kamala Harris and her team of Biden campaign leftovers (who have now been layered by Obama advisors) have finally accepted the already agreed upon rules of the debate that they wrote in the first place,” Trump campaign senior advisor Jason Miller told The Post.
“Americans want to hear both candidates present their competing visions to the voters, unburdened by what has been,” he added. “No notes, no sitting down, no advance copies of the questions. We’ll see you in Philadelphia next Tuesday.”
