Washington – Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign was unable to convince ABC News, host of next week’s presidential debate, to keep the microphone unmuted for a 90-minute debate against former President Donald Trump.
According to a letter her campaign sent to ABC News, the candidate agreed to leave the microphone muted when not speaking. Back and forth on rules For discussion on 10 September.
“Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor, would be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which 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,” said the letter, which was obtained by CBS News. was obtained.
The Harris campaign also told CBS News that it was assured of how any crosstalk would be handled. Microphones may be unmuted if there is significant crosstalk between candidates. A candidate who continuously interrupts their opponent will be warned by the moderator and their comments will be relayed to the audience. And, if the microphones don’t pick up the exchanges, a group of reporters who happen to be in the room will report anything noteworthy.
“Despite our concerns, we understand that Donald Trump risks abandoning the debate entirely, as he has previously threatened, if we do not accept his preferred format,” the letter read. “We don’t want to jeopardize the debate. For this reason, we have adopted the full set of rules proposed by the ABC, including mute microphones.”
The Biden campaign requested that candidates’ microphones be muted while their opponents were speaking During the match between Presidents Biden and Trump in June, which was hosted by CNN.
Trump’s campaign opposes the rule change for the September debate.
“We agreed to the same rules. I don’t know, I don’t care,” Trump said on Aug. 26 while campaigning in Virginia. “I would have liked it to have continued, but the agreement was that it would be the same as last time. In that case, it was muted. I didn’t like it last time but it worked well.
Caitlin Yilek is a political reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, DC, she previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
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