Donald Trump hints he may not attend debate with Kamala Harris

Trump and Biden debated – a disastrous performance for the incumbent president that resulted in him being pushed out of the 2024 presidential race by members of his own Democratic Party. In that debate, the candidates’ microphones were muted when they did not answer questions.

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Asked if he planned to mute the microphones during the debate with Harris, Trump said Monday that his team had “agreed to the same rules” as at the event with Biden, adding, “I don’t know, I don’t care.”

“I probably would have preferred to have it on, but the agreement was that it would be the same as last time. In this case, it was muted. I didn’t like it last time, but it worked out fine,” he added.

Fallon shared a video clip of Trump picking up on the part of the former president’s answer that suggested indifference to microphone rules and said the debate must continue unmuted.

“Trump said unmuting the mics ‘doesn’t matter to me.’ I always suspected it was something his staff wanted, not him personally,” Fallon wrote on X, insisting that “with this resolved, everything is now ready for September 10th.”

Trump has repeatedly expressed his reluctance to host the ABC News debate with Harris. After Biden’s exit, he initially declined to attend the forum. Trump attacked ABC News and its moderators and considered other options, including a debate on Fox News, a conservative network that is more friendly to his campaign.

Trump eventually agreed to participate in the ABC News debate to counteract the media attention given to Harris, whose entry into the race had mobilized significant parts of the Democratic base and helped her surge in the polls nationally and in swing states.

Harris’ campaign has proposed a second debate with Trump — the details have yet to be finalized — when he participates in the ABC News forum. The Harris campaign has ruled out participating in a Fox News debate.

Trump and Harris’ vice presidential candidates, Republican Senator JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, are scheduled to have their own debate with CBS News on October 1.