Kamala Harris Challenges Donald Trump to Transparent Debate with Live Microphones

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for the US presidential election in November, called on her Republican opponent Donald Trump to debate her with their microphones turned on during the event.

Kamala Harris and the former president have agreed to debate on September 10th, which will be hosted by ABC News.

“Donald Trump is giving in to his aides, who refuse to allow him to debate with a live microphone. “If his own team doesn’t believe in him, the American people certainly won’t,” Kamala Harris wrote on X.

“We’re running for President of the United States. Let’s have a transparent debate, with microphones on the whole time.”

Trump has stated that he prefers to keep his microphone on and did not like it muted at the last debate against then-candidate Joe Biden.

So-called “hot mics” can help or hinder political campaigns by recording off-hand comments that were not intended for the public. Muted microphones also restrict debaters from interrupting their opponents.

A spokeswoman from ABC did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The discussion would be the first between Harris and Trump since Biden stepped out of the presidential race following a dismal performance at a CNN debate in June that prompted concerns about his mental acuity.

Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, and JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, have agreed to a CBS News debate on October 1.

ORIGINAL STORY: Why Kamala Harris Campaign is fighting for Unmuted Debate Mics

Some experts believe the Trump campaign’s eagerness to maintain the muting rule for the Kamala Harris debate on September 10 is because to the great reception he received in June for a more controlled performance than many had anticipated versus Mr Biden. In practice, it rendered interruptions impossible.

The former president, on the other hand, appears unconcerned with the regulation, and has even contradicted his own team’s statements advocating for its continuation. “[It] does not matter to me. I’d prefer to have [the microphones] turned on,” he stated on Monday.

“But we agreed that it would be the same as the last time. “In that case, it was muted,” he explained.

Trump announced on social media Tuesday afternoon that he had “reached an agreement” with ABC for the September 10 debate. He did not mention mics in the post, but did say that the “rules will be the same as the last CNN debate,” which included muted mics.

In the article, he also accused the network of being “unfair,” but added that his team had been guaranteed that the debate would be “fair and equitable.”

With only two weeks until the debate, the Kamala Harris team wants to change the agreed-upon regulations so that both candidates’ microphones are unmuted during the event. What do they believe they will benefit from this change?

More broadly, they feel it has the potential to show viewers an unfiltered, even irritable, Trump, who will be audible throughout Kamala Harris’s speech.

“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,” said Kamala Harris’s spokeswoman.