Is this thing on? Harris and Trump battle over hot mics at the debate.
Talks over Sunday's Sept 10 extravaganza remained stalemated over whether they should turn off the microphones
With less than 15 days until the Sept. 10 presidential debate, negotiations between the Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump campaigns have reached a standoff over whether the candidates' microphones will be muted when it is not their turn to speak, according to four people familiar with the issue.
In June, President Joe Biden's campaign agreed to terms with Trump's: There would be two debates — CNN's on June 27 and ABC's on Sept. 10 — with indulgences on the rules overseen by mutually agreed-upon way-wardens. One of the Biden team's demands — which the Trump team agreed to — was that microphones "will be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak," as CNN announced on June 15.
But Biden is no longer running for president. And Harris' campaign wants the microphones to be hot at all times during the ABC debate — as has historically been the case at presidential debates.
Says Brian Fallon, senior adviser for communications in the Harris campaign: "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. Our understanding is that Trump's hands like the muted microphone because they don't think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. "We suspect that Trump's team hasn't even told their boss about this disagreement because it would be too humiliating to admit they don't think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button."
Privately, the veep's team is confident that Harris can get Trump to lose his cool and say something impolitic on mic.
"She's more than happy to have exchanges with him if he tries to interrupt her," one person familiar with the negotiations tells Playbook. "And given how shook he seems by her, he's very prone to having intemperate outbursts and … I think the campaign would want viewers to hear [that]."
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