Harris agrees to mute mic policy during Trump debate

Vice President Kamala Harris has agreed to rules for her upcoming televised debate with opponent Donald Trump, including the ability to mute one’s microphone when the other person speaks.

Harris’ campaign previously fought a muted microphone policy that was adopted by her presidential predecessor, Joe Biden, with analysts suggesting Harris’ team believed the rule would benefit Trump.

However, on Wednesday, both the Harris and Trump campaigns agreed to the rules for the on-air debate set by ABC News.

The debate scheduled for September 10 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will be the first clash between the two presidential candidates.

Its rules are similar to those for CNN’s June debate between President Joe Biden and Trump, where Biden’s poor performance prompted calls for him to drop the Democratic nomination.

Political observers suggested at the time that the mute rule in the debate may have been beneficial to Trump because it limited his ability to interrupt Mr. Biden and improvise, and helped him deliver a more measured performance.

In a letter to ABC on Wednesday, Harris’ campaign said they still believe the debate format will be “fundamentally disadvantageous” to them because it “will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President.”

However, the election team added that it accepted the rules so that the debate could take place.

“We understand that Donald Trump poses a threat and may skip the debate altogether, as he has threatened previously, if we do not agree to his preferred format,” the statement said.

“For that reason, we accepted the entire set of rules proposed by ABC, including microphone muting.”

Trump campaign officials said in a statement they were “delighted that Kamala Harris and her team of surviving Biden campaign staff” “have accepted the principles that have already been agreed upon.”

Trump himself, however, has previously suggested that he would accept unmuted microphones.

In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, he attacked ABC, questioning its polling and saying it is “the worst network in terms of integrity.”

He said he only agreed to the debate “because (Ms Harris’ campaign) didn’t want to participate on any other network.”

The debate is scheduled to last 90 minutes and will be hosted by ABC anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Neither candidate will deliver an opening statement. They are also prohibited from communicating with their campaign staff during commercial breaks.

As with the CNN debate, there will be no audience on site.

More about the US elections