Source: Politics<\/p>\n
With just 15 days left until the scheduled Sept. 10 presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, negotiations between their two campaigns have hit an impasse over whether the candidates\u2019 microphones will be muted when it is not their turn to speak, according to four people familiar with the issue.<\/p>\n
In June, President Joe Biden\u2019s campaign came to an agreement with Trump\u2019s: There would be two debates<\/a> \u2014 CNN\u2019s on June 27 and ABC\u2019s on Sept. 10 \u2014 conducted by mutually negotiated rules. One of the Biden team\u2019s demands \u2014 which the Trump team agreed to \u2014 was that microphones \u201cwill be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak,\u201d as CNN announced on June 15<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Biden is no longer running for president. And Harris\u2019 campaign wants the microphones to be hot at all times during the ABC debate \u2014 as has historically been the case at presidential debates.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates\u2019 mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,\u201d Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign\u2019s senior adviser for communications, tells POLITICO. \u201cOur understanding is that Trump\u2019s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don\u2019t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. We suspect Trump\u2019s team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don\u2019t think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button.\u201d<\/p>\n Privately, the veep\u2019s team believes that Harris can get Trump to lose his cool and say something impolitic on mic.<\/p>\n \u201cShe’s more than happy to have exchanges with him if he tries to interrupt her,\u201d one person familiar with the negotiations tells Playbook. \u201cAnd given how shook he seems by her, he’s very prone to having intemperate outbursts and \u2026 I think the campaign would want viewers to hear [that].\u201d<\/p>\n For its part, the Trump campaign sees this all as a bait and switch. They want the ABC debate governed by the CNN rules \u2014 even though those rules were agreed to by the Biden campaign, not the Harris campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cEnough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate. The Harris camp, after having already agreed to the CNN rules, asked for a seated debate, with notes, and opening statements. We said no changes to the agreed upon rules,\u201d Jason Miller, senior adviser for Trump told Playbook last night. \u201cIf Kamala Harris isn\u2019t smart enough to repeat the messaging points her handlers want her to memorize, that\u2019s their problem. This seems to be a pattern for the Harris campaign. They won\u2019t allow Harris to do interviews, they won\u2019t allow her to do press conferences, and now they want to give her a cheat-sheet for the debate. My guess is that they\u2019re looking for a way to get out of any debate with President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump on Sunday night openly questioned<\/a> whether he’ll take part in the ABC-hosted event, suggesting the network might be biased, without mentioning anything about the microphone contretemps.<\/p>\n Trump himself has suggested additional debates with Harris, governed by rules different from the CNN standard \u2014 including proposing a Fox News-hosted debate on Sept. 4 with \u201ca full arena audience,\u201d as Trump posted on Truth Social earlier this month<\/a>. (The CNN debate had no in-person viewers.)<\/p>\n The no-live-mics stance is also at odds with the Trump campaign\u2019s demand in the 2020 campaign, when it wanted microphones to remain on as the then-president faced Joe Biden.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is our understanding \u2026 that you will soon be holding an internal meeting to discuss other possible rule changes, such as granting an unnamed person the ability to shut off a candidate\u2019s microphone,\u201d Trump\u2019s then-campaign manager, Bill Stepien, wrote to the Commission on Presidential Debates on Oct. 19, 2020<\/a>. \u201cIt is completely unacceptable for anyone to wield such power \u2026 This is reminiscent of the first debate in 2016, when the President\u2019s microphone was oscillated, and it is not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Miller\u2019s assertion that Harris wanted a seated debate with notes, Fallon pushed back vigorously. \u201cAll three parties (Trump, Harris and ABC) have agreed to standing and no notes, and we never sought otherwise,\u201d Fallon said. A separate person familiar with the negotiations laughed when we asked if Harris ever asked to be seated, saying it wasn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n At the time it accepted ABC\u2019s invitation, the Harris campaign did so while making clear to the network that the rules themselves were up for debate. And if this current snag is any indication, that debate is far from settled.<\/p>\n