Are the microphones open or off during the September debate? Trump and Kamala have different opinions

The talks surrounding the September 10 US presidential debate on ABC were marked by disagreements between Republican candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris, including over microphones being turned off.

To date, the only scheduled presidential debate between a former head of state and a current vice president is taking place during an election period that is considered the most unusual in modern history: Trump has been convicted on 34 criminal charges and after current president and former Democratic nominee Joe Biden dropped out of a re-election bid after intense pressure from his own party.

Biden and Trump already debated on June 27 at CNN’s Atlanta studio in a showdown marked by unusual rules: They debated without an audience, in an effort to avoid interference from supporters; their microphones were muted to avoid crosstalk and interruptions between debates, a situation that already affected Biden and Trump’s first face-off in the 2020 presidential debates.

Now Biden is no longer running for president, and the campaigns of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are arguing over the rule of turning off microphones while the opponent is speaking.

The Democratic nominee, who leads in vote intentions nationwide after Biden’s exit, believes “both candidates’ microphones should be on throughout the broadcast” — as has historically been the case in presidential debates, Brian Fallon, a communications consultant for the Harris campaign, said in a statement Monday.

“It is our understanding that Trump’s advisers prefer the microphone to be turned off because they don’t think their candidate can function as president alone for 90 minutes,” Fallon added.

Donald Trump insisted Monday that he was not concerned about the state of the microphones, but stressed that “the agreement was that it would be the same” as the last debate, meaning the microphone of the candidate who did not speak would be turned off.

“No more games. We accept debates on ABC on the same terms as debates on CNN,” Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said in a statement.

Kamala Harris has asked ABC to change its microphone rule to allow for the right of immediate reply, a tool that could be especially useful for debunking any false information said in real time during the debate.

According to CNN, Trump made about 30 false statements during the June 27 debate, compared to Biden’s nine.

On Monday, Donald Trump even cast doubt on his participation in the debate with his Democratic rival on ABC, criticizing the network’s “hostility” toward conservatives and the fact that rules changes were being considered.

If the rules for the September 10 debate are exactly the same as those for June 27, the event will also not feature opening statements from candidates, leading directly to questions from moderators, and will not allow the use of props or pre-written notes on stage.

Candidates will only receive a pen, notepad and a bottle of water, and they will only have two commercial breaks, but they will not be able to speak to their campaign team during this period.

The Democratic Party headquarters assured that the three sides of the debate – Trump, Harris and ABC – agreed to a debate in which the candidates would stand and not resort to recordings.

The September 10 debate was scheduled before Biden dropped his candidacy. Trump later proposed three debates: September 4 on Fox News, September 10 on ABC, and September 25 on NBC News, but Democrats only accepted what was initially agreed upon.

Joe Biden’s poor performance in the first presidential debate of the year – and his subsequent withdrawal last month – underscored the debates’ power to shape the race for the White House and quickly shake up the presidential race.

Harris continues to lead in vote intentions nationwide by 3.4 percentage points. According to the polling site FiveThirtyEight’s average, 47.1 percent of voters favor the Democrat, while 43.7 percent favor Trump.