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Kamala Harris’ campaign dared former President Donald Trump on Monday to take part in next month’s ABC presidential debate without a “muted microphone,” with the Republican nominee’s team accusing Democrats of reneging on terms previously agreed to by President Biden — before Trump himself indicated he’d be just fine with the new format.
“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 senior communications adviser 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,” Fallon charged. “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.”
“The vice president is ready to deal with Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real time,” he added. “Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button.”
Earlier, Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller fired back at Fallon, saying the Democratic nominee’s camp wanted to change the rules after Harris, 59, took over the top spot on the party’s 2024 ticket.
“Enough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the [June 27] CNN debate,” Miller said in a statement. “The Harris camp, after having already agreed to the CNN rules, asked for a seated debate, with notes, and opening statements.”
During an appearance in Falls Church, Va. Monday, Trump echoed Miller by saying that the Harris team agreed to the same rules as the CNN debate with Biden, which did have muted mics.
However, Trump then appeared to undercut his own campaign, saying: “Doesn’t matter to me, I’d rather have it probably on.”
“We said no changes to the agreed upon rules. If Kamala Harris isn’t smart enough to repeat the messaging points her handlers want her to memorize, that’s their problem,” Miller’ said. “This seems to be a pattern for the Harris campaign. They won’t allow Harris to do interviews, they won’t allow her to do press conferences, and now they want to give her a cheat-sheet for the debate.
“My guess is that they’re looking for a way to get out of any debate with President Trump. Regardless, there’s no way Harris is ready to be commander-in-chief.”
Harris has yet to sit for a media interview since replacing Biden, 81, as the Democrats’ presidential nominee — and has declined to confirm two other proposed debates with Trump that were to be hosted by Fox News and NBC News.
“Interesting that this is only coming up now that the Harris campaign has started their debate prep. Even their own campaign spokesman said the debate about debates was over,” Miller added. “Clearly they’re seeing something they don’t like. And I’m not sure why the Harris camp is panicking — it’s a given that they’ve already been handed the questions.”
On Sunday, Trump suggested he may drop out of the ABC debate after what he called a “biased” interview with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on “This Week,” the network’s weekly public affairs program.
“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, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” the 78-year-old proclaimed on Truth Social.
Karl had pressed Cotton about Trump recently calling Medal of Freedom recipients either “equivalent” to or “much better” than recipients of the Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest military award for bravery in combat.
“Will panelist Donna Brazil [sic] give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton?” he went on, referencing CNN contributor Donna Brazile’s resignation over leaking questions via email to the Clinton campaign in October 2016.
“Will Kamala’s best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise. Where is Liddle’ George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Will he be involved?” Trump also wrote, repeating his new nickname for George Stephanopoulos, the regular host of “This Week.”
On Monday, Trump said he would prefer that one of NBC or CBS host the planned debate with Harris, reiterating his claim that Disney-owned ABC is biased against Republicans.
The 45th president added that he was not preparing to debate Harris in any special way.
“You have to know your subject,” the Republican nominee said, “and I think I know my subject.”
Before Biden dropped out of the race July 21, the president and his advisers requested muted microphones for the first debate to guard against what they called disrespectful behavior by Trump during the 2020 debates.
The then-Democratic challenger and Republican incumbent only squared off twice that election cycle, with a third showdown canceled due to the fallout from Trump testing positive for COVID-19.
