ABC News has officially announced the rules for next week’s presidential debate between US Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
This would mean that both candidates have agreed to the format, including that microphones will be muted while the other candidate is speaking.
Additionally, a virtual coin toss held this week was won by Trump to determine podium placement and the order of closing statements. Trump chose to deliver the last closing statement, and Kamala chose the right-hand podium position on the screen.
The issue of muted microphones was the latest sticking point for Kamala’s campaign, after Trump’s team had already agreed on the rules last week.
Over the weekend, Kamala posted on X that Trump is “caving in to his advisers who won’t let him debate on live microphone. If his own team doesn’t have confidence in him, the American people definitely can’t.”
“We are running for President of the United States. We will debate transparently — with microphones on at all times,” she added.
Last week, Trump said at a campaign stop that while they had already agreed on the rules, he didn’t care if the microphones were on.
ABC News’ debate rules largely mirror those used by CNN in his presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Trump in June, when Biden’s campaign, at the time, was the one advocating for muted microphones.
In addition to the muted microphones, the rules state that there will be no audience, candidates will not be allowed to have written notes, no staff will be allowed to visit them during the two commercial breaks and they will not be allowed to ask each other questions.
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This content was originally published in ABC News releases official rules for presidential debate between Kamala and Trump on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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