Harris team fighting muted mics at ABC debate after Biden requested rule

Vice President Kamala Harris‘s campaign is reportedly seeking to reverse a debate rule pushed for by President Joe Biden‘s campaign in the first debate against former President Donald Trump: muted microphones.

In nearly all televised presidential debates, the microphones were on throughout the event, with either candidate able to interrupt the other. For the 2024 debates, the Biden campaign requested that microphones be muted during the debate when it is not a candidate’s turn to speak, to which the Trump campaign agreed, and that was the policy for the CNN debate between Trump and Biden in June.

As the ABC News debate on Sept. 10 approaches, a Politico report claims the Harris campaign wants to change the microphone policy back to the old rule of having always live microphones for both candidates. It also reports the Harris campaign wants the rule change because it thinks Trump could say something if he loses his composure.