Will there be muted mics during the September 10 presidential debate?
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to face off on September 10 in a debate hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia and moderated by Linsey Davis and David Muir.
Over the last few days, however, amid statements from Trump casting doubt on whether he’ll ultimately participate, the campaigns have debated changes to a set of rules agreed upon between Trump and President Joe Biden before their June debate.
What were the rules of the last debate between Biden and Trump?
The rules for the last debate meant that each candidate’s microphone was only turned on when it was their turn to speak, there was no studio audience and the candidates weren’t allowed to talk to their staff during breaks or bring any notes with them.
Both candidates were provided with only a pen and pad and a bottle of water.
The Biden campaign demanded that the microphones be turned off in response to Trump’s tendency, in 2016 and 2020, to interrupt and speak over his opponents while they were talking.
The Associated Press reported that some Biden aides now say they are second-guessing that decision because an unmuted Trump’s interruptions might have hurt himself more than his opponent.
What is the disagreement over rules for the upcoming debate?
Harris communications advisor Brian Fallon said the campaign wants microphones on both candidates’ podiums to stay live during the entire debate.
“Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own,” Fallon said.
The vice president “is ready to deal with Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real-time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button,” he said.
Jason Miller, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, said that Trump had accepted the September 10 debate on ABC under the same conditions as the June CNN debate against Biden.
Miller accused the Harris campaign of wanting a “seated debate, with notes.” The Harris campaign denies this.
Nonetheless, Trump recently said he doesn’t care much about the microphone policy.
“We agreed to the same rules” as in June’s debate, Trump said on Sunday, responding to reporters’ questions in a video posted by CNN.
“It doesn’t matter to me, I’d rather have (the microphone) probably on, but the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted. I didn’t like it the last time, but it worked out fine,” Trump said.
“They’re trying to change it, the truth is they’re trying to get out of it, because she doesn’t want to debate.”
Why is debate organization so different this year from past years?
For decades—since 1988—the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has organized presidential debates. This year, for the first time, rules for the debates are being decided in semi-public, three-way negotiations between a handful of television networks and both campaigns.
Microphones have been live for both candidates for most debates since the Commission on Presidential Debates was formed.
In the second of two 2020 debates between Trump and Biden, the microphone for the non-speaking candidate was muted after the first debate, without such a rule, became problematically argumentative.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Will there be 'hot mics' at presidential debate? It's complicated.
