Kamala Harris accuses Donald Trump of trying to silence her in the televised debate

Kamala Harris has complained to ABC News that she is being “disadvantaged” by the format of next Tuesday’s televised showdown with Donald Trump.

Although Harris’ campaign team agreed to the rules of the debate, it told the broadcaster in a letter that the former prosecutor was unhappy with the fact that the candidates’ microphones were muted when it was not their turn to speak.

Harris believes Trump insisted on this condition to protect him from direct confrontations, CNN reported, citing a letter from Harris’ campaign team to ABC News.

“Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor, is fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which is designed to protect Donald Trump from direct interaction with the Vice President. We suspect this is the primary reason his campaign team insists on muting microphones,” the letter said.

According to ABC News, both candidates agreed to the format in May, and a source told CNN the network could turn on the microphones so viewers could hear what was going on if there was a heated crossfire between Harris and Trump.

Harris’ campaign said it feared Trump would withdraw if the microphones were not muted.

“Notwithstanding our concerns, we understand that Donald Trump poses a risk if he cancels the debate altogether, as he has previously threatened to do if we do not agree to his preferred format,” the letter said, according to CNN. “We do not want to jeopardize the debate. For this reason, we accept all of ABC’s proposed rules, including muting microphones.”

Harris wasn’t the only one looking for an advantage ahead of the highly anticipated presidential debate.

At a Fox News town hall on Wednesday night, Trump claimed ABC News was “dishonest” and suggested his Democratic opponent would receive the questions in advance.

He based his unproven claim on Harris’ friendship with a manager with ties to the network, reported the New York Times.

Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he would treat Harris the same way he treated Joe Biden, whose disastrous performance in the debate ultimately led him to drop out of the race in favor of his vice presidency.

“I let him talk – I’ll let them talk,” Trump told Hannity. “There are people who say Biden is smarter than them. If that’s the case, we have a problem.”