The highly anticipated September 10 debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump gave rise to friction on Monday over the management of microphones, against a backdrop of the Republican candidate’s threat not to participate.
“Why would I debate Kamala Harris on this network?” the former president wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, accusing the network scheduled to host the debate, ABC, of being biased against him.
The campaign team of the vice president, Democratic candidate for the November presidential election, accused the Republican candidate, or rather his entourage, on Monday of wanting to protect him by demanding that the microphones be cut.
“We believe that both candidates’ microphones should remain on throughout the debate. Our analysis is that the Trump team prefers to have the microphones cut because they don’t believe their candidate is capable of remaining presidential for 90 minutes,” says Brian Fallon, one of the candidate’s advisers.
Donald Trump, asked about his preference during a trip to Virginia, near Washington, said: “I don’t know, it doesn’t matter to me. I would probably prefer that [les micros] be opened,” according to a video broadcast by the NBC channel.
“The agreement [avec l’équipe de campagne de Kamala Harris] was that it would be the same as last time,” in this case “cut” microphones, he added, however.
“She doesn’t want to debate. She’s not good at debating, she’s not an intelligent person,” he then attacked.
During the June 27 CNN debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, who was still the Democratic Party nominee, the microphone of the candidate who was not speaking was left muted, at the request of the 81-year-old president.
Kamala Harris, who replaced him in the race for the White House, prefers to return to permanent open microphones, which was the norm for presidential debates, facing a rival known for his tendency to invectives and untimely interruptions.
Conversely, Donald Trump’s campaign team insists on keeping the same rules as on June 27.
The disastrous performance that day by Joe Biden, who was already in a bad position in the polls before the debate, had sounded the death knell for his candidacy.
The challenge for Kamala Harris, who on the contrary enjoys a slight advantage in the polls, is to maintain her momentum, or even widen the gap with Donald Trump.