Kamala Harris Team Call Out Donald Trump Over Live Mics in TV Debate

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ campaign team have said they do not want muted microphones at the ABC-hosted debate scheduled for September 10.
Brian Fallon, a senior adviser to the Harris campaign, told Newsweek that there is a dispute between the two campaigns over whether microphones should be live because Trump would not be able to remain disciplined for 90 minutes.
“We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,” Fallon said. “Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own.”
Trump is known for making frequent interruptions in presidential debates. In 2020, he interrupted Joe Biden 71 times, leading to Biden retorting “will you shut up, man?”
Muted microphones were used in the first presidential debate of 2024, a CNN-hosted clash between president Biden and Trump.
In 2016, Trump faced criticism for repeatedly speaking over Hillary Clinton, interjecting “wrong!” and at one point interrupting her outlining her position on Social Security by calling her “such a nasty woman.”
Fallon said that he suspects Trump’s campaign staff are concealing the microphone-muting dispute from him.
“We suspect Trump’s team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don’t think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button,” he 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.”
Newsweek has contacted the Trump campaign via email for comment.
Although Trump agreed to the debate earlier in August, he wrote on Sunday that he might not want to proceed with it due to his view that ABC News would be biased against him.
“I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl’s(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters,” he wrote on Truth Social late on Sunday night. “And I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?”
But speaking at a press conference in Falls Church, Virginia, on Monday morning, Trump said the agreement was for the same rules as the June CNN-hosted debate.
“We agreed to the same rules, I don’t know, it doesn’t matter to me,” Trump said. “I’d rather have it probably un-[muted], 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, I mean ask Biden how it worked out. It was fine and I think it should be the same. We agreed to the same rules, same rules and same specifications and I think that’s probably what it should be. But they’re trying to change it.
“The truth is they’re trying to get out of it because she [Harris] doesn’t want to debate. She’s not a good debater, she’s not a smart person. She doesn’t want to debate.”
Update 08/26/24 at 12:25 p.m. ET; This article was updated to add comments from a Trump press conference.