Kamala Harris Team Says She'll Reluctantly Accept Debate Rules To Avoid Trump Ditching It (2024)

Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has agreed to the rules of next week’s debate against former President Donald Trump, including keeping microphones off when it isn’t the candidate’s turn to speak.

But the Democratic nominee did not seem too eager to agree to the terms in her letter to ABC News informing them of her decision.

“Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor, will be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President,” the campaign wrote in a letter to ABC News, which is hosting Tuesday’s debate.

“Notwithstanding our concerns, we understand that Donald Trump is a risk to skip the debate altogether, as he has threatened to do previously, if we do not accede to his preferred format. We do not want to jeopardize the debate.”

Aside from having microphones muted when it isn’t a candidates turn to speak, candidates will be required to stand behind their lecterns for the duration of the 90-minute debate and will not be allowed to bring props or pre-written notes on stage, according to ABC News. There will also be no audience, and only the moderators will be allowed to ask questions.

Trump has threatened to bail on the debate, including when he went on a tangent last month on his Truth Social platform, slamming ABC News as “fake news.” He had previously agreed to two presidential debates against Joe Biden before the president dropped his bid for reelection.

“Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They’ve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!!”

Harris seemed hesitant to agree to the mics-off format.

Her campaign initially said that she wanted both mics on at all times, believing that Trump’s campaign doesn’t think the Republican nominee can “act presidential for 90 minutes on his own.” Trump has a tendency to speak over opponents during debates when it isn’t his turn to speak. But he told reporters that he would prefer that the microphones be live as well.

“We suspect Trump’s team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don’t think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button,” a spokesperson for Harris’ campaign said last month.

But Trump’s campaign pushed back, pointing out that it was the same format that was used in the CNN presidential debate between Trump and Biden in June.

“Enough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate,” Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said in a statement. “The Harris camp, after having already agreed to the CNN rules, asked for a seated debate, with notes, and opening statements. We said no changes to the agreed upon rules. If Kamala Harris isn’t smart enough to repeat the messaging points her handlers want her to memorize, that’s their problem.”