United States Vice President Kamala Harris and former US President Donald Trump have settled on ground rules for their first debate following a dispute over whether they should keep their microphones on throughout the event.
ABC News confirmed the format for the Sept. 10 debate on Wednesday after disagreements over microphones threatened to derail the first — and, so far, only confirmed — face-off between the Democratic and Republican nominees.
ABC News said Trump will give a final closing statement and stand on the left side of the screen after winning a virtual coin flip.
The 90-minute debate will be held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and will have no audience.
The announcement came after the Harris campaign agreed that the microphone would be muted when it was another candidate’s turn to speak.
Her campaign pushed for the microphone to be on at all times, arguing that she should have “an opportunity to deal with Trump’s constant lies and distractions in real-time.”
In a letter to ABC News after agreeing to the rules, the Harris campaign said it would be “fundamentally disadvantaged by this format,” but did not want to “jeopardize the debate.”
Trump said last week that he would “probably” keep the microphone on, but “the understanding was that it would be the same as last time”.
Before abandoning his bid for re-election, US President Joe Biden insisted on a muted microphone to prevent Trump from interrupting him while he was speaking.
Harris and Trump both agreed to a debate on Sept. 10, but the event came into question after the parties clashed over microphone rules in recent weeks and the Republican nominee suggested he might back out.
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