Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he does not want microphones to be muted during next month’s presidential debate, undermining his own campaign efforts to do so.
Muting the candidates’ microphone when it was not their turn to speak was beneficial to Trump in the first presidential debate with Joe Biden because it prevented TV audiences from hearing outbursts or interruptions from him like in previous debates.
It is no wonder then that Trump’s campaign has been pushing behind the scenes for muted mics at the upcoming Sept. 10, ABC News-hosted debate.
But, Trump undercut his campaign efforts on Monday, telling reporters that he’d rather have microphones on during the entire debate, though he added that muted mics is what the campaigns agreed to.
“We agreed to the same rules. I don’t know — doesn’t matter to me. I’d rather have it probably on, but the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted,” he said.
“I didn’t like it the last time, but it worked out fine. They’re trying to change it,” Trump continued. “The truth is, they’re trying to get out of it because she [Kamala Harris] doesn’t want to debate. She’s not a good debater. She’s not a smart person. She doesn’t want to debate.”
This disagreement over microphone muting has raised new doubts about whether the debate will take place as scheduled.
While the Trump campaign is pushing for muted mics as the June CNN debate with President Biden, Harris campaign noted it was not the party that agreed to those rules and has pushed for microphones to be left open at all times.
“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,” Harris campaign spokesperson Brian Fallon said in a statement. “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.
“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 added. “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.”
However, senior Trump adviser Jason Miller claimed that Harris camp asking for microphones to remain open during the debate is actually an attempt by her team to dodge the debates.
