Harris and Trump Campaigns Arguing Over When Mics Will Be Live During Debate

Officials with the campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump are reportedly not able to come of a full agreement on the rules for a planned debate hosted by ABC News.

The issue apparently centers around when the microphones will be turned on or "hot" during the debate.

The Harris campaign wants the mics on during the entire debate, Politico reported on Monday morning.

That is a reversal from the rules President Biden's team came up with when they agreed to two debates with Trump. One of the requirements that Biden demanded was that the mics would only be hot when it was their turn to talk.

"We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates' mics should be live throughout the full broadcast," Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign's senior adviser for communications, said. "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.

Politico noted that debates traditionally have had hot microphones for the entire debate.

President Biden dropped out of the presidential race a few days after a wooden, stumbling performance against Donald Trump in a CNN debate.

After Harris took the Democratic nomination in his place she agreed to take part in the second debate that Biden had agreed to take part in but did not agree to the same rules, which included the muted mics.

On Sunday, Trump hinted that he might pull out of the ABC debate.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, he complained about ABC bias and asked, "Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?"

He added, "They've got a lot of questions to answer!" and "Stay tuned!"

Trump has previously proposed a debate on MAGA-friendly Fox News with a full audience.