(LibertySociety.com) – The Harris campaign last week requested a rule change for the upcoming September 10 debate on ABC News.
Back in May when President Joe Biden and Donald Trump agreed to participate in two debates, the Biden campaign insisted that the microphone of one candidate be turned off while the other candidate was speaking to prevent interruptions. The Biden campaign insisted on the rule to prevent a repeat of the first 2020 presidential debate when the two candidates repeatedly shouted over each other’s answers.
The Harris campaign, however, wanted to remove the muted microphone rule, fearing that it would prevent Vice President Harris from taking advantage of Trump’s interruptions to utter her infamous, “I’m speaking” line.
Harris campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said the campaign believed that the microphones should remain live throughout the debates and claimed that the Trump campaign wanted the mics muted out of fear that Trump could not “act presidential for 90 minutes.”
However, it was the Biden campaign, not the Trump campaign that insisted on the rule.
When Trump was asked if he would be willing to keep the microphones on throughout the debate, he told reporters that he would be fine with it but suggested that the rule was approved by both campaigns and should not be changed.
Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller told Politico that both the Trump campaign and the Harris campaign accepted to debate under the same rules that were used in the June 27 CNN debate.
Miller suggested that the Harris campaign only wanted to change the rule because they were “concerned” about the vice president’s performance during debate prep.
In 2020, the Biden campaign seized on a moment during the vice presidential debate when Vice President Mike Pence interrupted Harris, prompting her to cut him off by saying, “I’m speaking.” The Harris campaign is likely hoping for a similar viral moment with Harris shutting down Trump.
Fallon admitted as much in his statement, saying that Harris was “ready to deal with Trump” if he dared to speak over her.
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