Harris campaign once again begs to have microphones unmuted for debate with Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign is continuing to push for microphones to be left unmuted for the upcoming debate with former President Donald Trump after the latter announced his campaign agreed to keep the same debate rules he had with President Joe Biden.

Trump made it clear on Monday that while he prefers to have microphones live the whole time, the rules of the debate were already settled when his campaign agreed with the terms set by Biden's campaign. Those terms included microphones being muted when a candidate was not speaking.

"We agreed to the same rules. I don't know, doesn't matter to me. ... 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. ... I think it should be the same. We agreed to the same rules," Trump said on Monday.

Brain Fallon, senior communications adviser to Harris, posted on X on Thursday that the Harris campaign is once again asking ABC News to have microphones be on throughout the entire debate, no muting. Fallon misleadingly used Trump's comment on Monday out of context to make it appear as though the microphone issue had come from the Trump team.

'The truth is they're trying to get out of it. She doesn't want to debate.'

"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. We have been asked to accede to Trump’s handlers’ wishes on this point for the sake of preserving the debate. We find the Trump’s [sic] team’s stance to be weak, and remain in discussions with ABC on the final rules," Fallon said.

"The truth is they're trying to get out of it. She doesn't want to debate. She's not a good debater," Trump also said Monday.

The New York Post reported that other rules and conditions for the debate include:

• no live studio audience;
• no pre-written notes;
• no props;
• only a pen and paper allowed; and
• one water bottle.

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