Campaign teams argue about muting microphones

In the election campaign teams of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the two politicians are currently arguing about whether one of the microphones should be muted when it is the other person’s turn to speak during the debate between the two scheduled for next month.

The Harris campaign team said in a statement to the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, that they intend to keep both candidates’ microphones on throughout the broadcast.

The Trump team reportedly wants the ABC debate on September 10 to follow the same rules that were agreed upon under Joe Biden’s Democratic candidate. That would mean that the microphones would be muted.

This apparent impasse came when the former president questioned the network’s impartiality and suggested he might even stay away from the debate.

Before President Joe Biden stepped down as the Democratic Party’s nominee, his campaign agreed with Trump’s campaign to participate in two debates – one of which took place on CNN in June and the other will air on ABC News this September.

The Biden team negotiated the rules for the debate and agreed that the microphone would be muted when a candidate was not speaking.

The Trump team agreed to this rule, which was also applied during the CNN debate in June.

But now, just 15 days before the ABC News debate is scheduled to air in Philadelphia, the Harris team wants to keep the microphones running “hot” – that is, they cannot be turned off during the entire debate.

This could result in the two candidates on the debate stage interrupting each other and breaking into each other.

“The vice president is ready to confront Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button,” Brian Fallon, senior communications adviser to Harris’ campaign, said in a statement.

Trump told reporters on Monday that he would have preferred to have the microphones on during the debate, but added that it “worked well” when they were muted on stage with Biden.

“We agreed to the same rules and regulations and I think that’s how it should be, but they’re trying to change that,” he said. “The truth is they’re trying to get out of this because she doesn’t want to debate. She’s not a good debater.”

In a statement to Politico, Trump’s campaign team repeated the former president’s accusation that Ms Harris was looking for a way to get out of the debate.

“No more games. We accepted the ABC debate on exactly the same terms as the CNN debate,” Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller told Politico. “The Harris camp had already agreed to the CNN rules and asked for a seated debate, with notes and opening statements. We said there would be no changes to the agreed-upon rules.”

A Harris campaign official who was asked about the Trump campaign’s claims said they were “100 percent false,” according to CBS News.

On Trump’s Truth Social platform on Sunday, he questioned whether the ABC News journalists moderating the debate would pass the questions on to the Harris campaign team in advance.

“Why should I host the debate against Kamala Harris on this network?” he wrote.

It is not the first time the former president has hinted he might drop out of a debate. Earlier this month, Trump said he would only debate Ms Harris if the debate was moderated by Fox News. A few days later, he changed course.

Just before the November 5 election, Harris’ campaign says it has raised $540 million since Biden’s resignation, reports the Associated Press. Harris was able to record record donation numbers after Biden dropped out of the race.

The Trump campaign, on the other hand, raised $138.7 million in July and has $327 million in cash.