Vice President Kamala Harris has told ABC News she has accepted the network’s rules for its Sept. 10 debate with former President Donald Trump, including the stipulation that each candidate’s microphone will be muted while the other is talking.
Harris had pushed back against the rule, arguing over the weekend that microphones should be on “the whole time” and trying to goad Trump into relenting to the guidelines by saying he was “surrendering” to his advisers by accepting them. However, in a letter to the network on Wednesday, the vice president’s campaign set the stage for next week’s showdown, but not before poking at Trump once again.
The Democratic candidate’s advisers maintained that Harris is “fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President.” However, they accepted the guidelines, adding in the letter obtained by the Associated Press, “We understand that Donald Trump is a risk to skip the debate altogether, as he has threatened to do previously, if we do not accede to his preferred format.”
“We accepted the full set of rules proposed by ABC, including muted microphones,” her campaign wrote.
Trump has expressed in the past his desire to keep microphones on during debates. After all, some of his most famous campaign moments during the last two election cycles came during his retorts to his opponents while they were answering questions. But President Joe Biden’s condition before their June 27 debate that microphones be muted appeared to work out in the former president’s favor, as Biden rambled and lost his train of thought and Trump looked more coherent when it was his turn to speak.
The debate was likely the most pivotal moment in the collapse of Biden’s campaign, and less than a month later, he withdrew his reelection bid and backed Harris. As the vice president solidified her claim to be the Democratic candidate, ABC decided to keep the rules the same as they had been when Trump was supposed to face off against Biden.
The debate will be 90 minutes long with two commercial breaks and will feature moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis asking questions. “Moderators will seek to enforce timing agreements and ensure a civilized discussion,” the network said.
Trump’s campaign said they are “thrilled” she has accepted.
“We are thrilled that Kamala Harris and her team of Biden campaign leftovers (who have now been layered by Obama advisors) have finally accepted the already agreed upon rules of the debate that they wrote in the first place,” campaign senior adviser Jason Miller told the Washington Examiner. “Americans want to hear both candidates present their competing visions to the voters, unburdened by what has been. No notes, no sitting down, no advance copies of the questions. We’ll see you in Philadelphia next Tuesday.”
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Both the campaigns of Harris, a former prosecutor, and Trump, who excelled in debates especially as he burst onto the mainstream political scene in 2015, appear confident in their candidate’s chances.
The debate will take place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. Eastern.
