ABC News has declined Kamala Harris’ request to keep microphones unmuted throughout the September 10 debate against Donald Trump. This decision follows recent disagreements between the campaigns of both presidential candidates over the debate rules. According to a report, ABC News sent an email on Tuesday outlining the debate rules, which include muted microphones when a candidate is not speaking—similar to the format of the CNN debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
In the email, ABC News Chief Counsel Eric Lieberman specified that there would be no audience and no pre-written notes or props allowed during the debate. Both Trump and Harris will be permitted only a pen, a pad of paper, and a bottle of water while on stage. The Trump campaign had previously insisted on maintaining rules similar to those of the June 27 debate, whereas the Harris campaign proposed on Monday that both candidates’ microphones remain unmuted for the entire 90 minutes of the debate.
In response to the decision by ABC News, Harris campaign spokesperson Brian Fallon expressed frustration, stating on social media platform X, “Our latest understanding is that even though Trump said Monday he would be fine with an unmuted mic, his handlers don’t trust him to spar live with VP Harris and are asking ABC to ignore Trump’s comments and keep the mics muted or else they will back out of the debate for a third time.”
Fallon further criticized the situation, suggesting that the Trump campaign’s stance reflects a lack of confidence in their candidate’s ability to debate without restrictions. Meanwhile, Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller dismissed these criticisms, accusing the Harris campaign of attempting to divert attention away from Harris’ avoidance of interviews. Miller stated to Newsmax, “Everything was agreed to and set last week. The Harris people are trying to distract and come up with something shiny to move away from the fact that she’s not doing interviews.”
The ongoing debate over the rules reflects the broader tensions and strategies of both campaigns as they prepare for the upcoming debate.