Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’ll debate Vice President Kamala Harris as planned on Sept. 10 on ABC News—after suggesting over the weekend he might cancel the debate amid a feud between the campaigns over the rules.
Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, during the National Guard ... [+]
Trump said Tuesday on Truth Social he and Harris had reached an agreement to follow the same set of rules he and President Joe Biden did during the June 27 CNN debate, including no live audience and muted microphones when the candidates aren’t speaking.
A person familiar with the matter also told CNN the same rules as the Trump-Biden debate will apply to the ABC News debate.
It’s unclear what changed for Harris’ campaign—which had been pushing for unmuted microphones, indicating it could benefit her by exposing Trump’s tendency for interruptions, while Trump’s campaign said it wanted to follow the same rules as the CNN debate.
Trump on Monday contradicted his own campaign in telling reporters in Detroit he’d be open to having live mics for the entirety of the debate.
Trump has repeatedly waffled over whether he’ll debate Harris, questioning Sunday on Truth Social whether he should participate, citing what he said was a biased interview the network conducted earlier that day with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
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Trump bashed ABC News as “by far the nastiest and most unfair newscaster in the business” in his Truth Social post Tuesday, adding that the network has assured the campaign it will be a “fair and equitable” debate. Neither side will be given questions in advance, candidates will stand throughout the duration of the debate and neither candidate can bring notes, Trump said. Trump agreed earlier this month to debate Harris on ABC News, which was scheduled to host the second debate between Trump and Biden.
Whether Trump and Harris will debate for a second time. Trump has repeatedly pushed Harris to agree to a debate on Fox News on Sept. 4. Trump’s campaign has also proposed a second debate with Harris later in September.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, will debate Oct. 1 on CBS News.
Will Trump And Harris Debate? Trump Threatens To Back Out—Amid Feud Over Muted Mics (Forbes)
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