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The Harris and Trump campaigns are at loggerheads over the terms of a looming first presidential debate, with a last-minute demand by Vice President Kamala Harris threatening to derail one of the few opportunities Americans will have to judge both candidates side-by-side.
According to Politico, the Democrat’s team is demanding that microphones at both podiums be left on throughout the duration of the two-hour debate, scheduled for September 10th on ABC News. The request amounts to a reversal from the Biden campaign’s insistence that former President Donald Trump’s microphone be muted when the two met on June 27th, a change that Harris spokesman Brian Fallon said Trump’s team should have no problem agreeing to if they trust their candidate.
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“We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,” Fallon, the Harris campaign’s senior adviser for communications, told Politico Playbook in a text message Sunday night. “Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. We suspect Trump’s team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don’t think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button.”
Anonymous sources close to Harris said she is more than happy to let President Trump try to interrupt her on stage, suggesting she is giddy about the possibility that the former president might lose his cool. “She’s more than happy to have exchanges with him if he tries to interrupt her,” one Harris confidant added. “And given how shook he seems by her, he’s very prone to having intemperate outbursts and … I think the campaign would want viewers to hear [that].”
Trump’s senior advisor Jason Miller poured cold water on the notion that the Republican would agree to Harris’s bait-and-switch tactics, saying Trump will arrive ready to debate whether she is there or not. “Enough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate. The Harris camp, after having already agreed to the CNN rules, asked for a seated debate, with notes, and opening statements. We said no changes to the agreed upon rules,” Miller responded. “If Kamala Harris isn’t smart enough to repeat the messaging points her handlers want her to memorize, that’s their problem. This seems to be a pattern for the Harris campaign. They won’t allow Harris to do interviews, they won’t allow her to do press conferences, and now they want to give her a cheat-sheet for the debate. My guess is that they’re looking for a way to get out of any debate with President Trump.”
The Harris campaign has been coy about the debate, saying the ground rules were agreed to by the campaign of President Joe Biden, not hers. They also cite Trump’s attempt shift the debate from ABC, where he is suing George Stephanopoulos, to friendlier grounds at Fox News on September 4th with a “full arena audience.” Further, they add, Trump insisted that microphones be left on during the 2020 debate, with then-campaign manager Bill Stepien writing to the Presidential Debates Commission, “It is completely unacceptable for anyone to wield such power. … This is reminiscent of the first debate in 2016, when the President’s microphone was oscillated, and it is not acceptable.”
Fallon, the Harris spokesman, pushed back against the accusation that Harris was attempting to shift the debate to a seated format with notes. “All three parties (Trump, Harris and ABC) have agreed to standing and no notes, and we never sought otherwise,” he said. Other sources told the outlet that Harris’s team only accepted the ABC debate with the understanding that the rules themselves would remain under negotiation.
A second debate offer from NBC News, which would take place September 25th, has already been agreed to by Trump but not Harris. The vice president’s campaign said she would consider a second presidential debate in October. Meanwhile, vice presidential candidates Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will face off on October 1st on CBS News. “Voters deserve to see the candidates for the highest office in the land share their competing visions for our future,” Harris’ communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement to Fox News. “The more they play games, the more insecure and unserious Trump and Vance reveal themselves to be to the American people. Those games end now.”
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