Vice President Kamala Harris is once again hinting that she may pull out of the September 10 presidential debate against former President Donald Trump unless a key rule is changed.
The Harris Campaign has for weeks accused their Republican rival of attempting to duck the debate despite the fact that Trump has agreed to three debates. Harris has only agreed to two and has indicated that she will skip the Fox News-hosted event. Trump, for his part, debated President Biden on CNN in an event moderated by vocal Trump critics.
After weeks of back and forth, Harris agreed to the September 10 debate, which is set to be hosted by ABC News. The Harris Campaign has left the door open to skipping another debate at a later date, stating that they will only commit after the ABC News debate.
The first debate between Harris and Trump will follow the same rules as the Trump-Biden debate after both candidates agreed to the rules last week. Harris had reportedly lobbied for a key rule change, as the campaign was calling for each candidate’s microphone to be left unmuted. This was done for the Trump-Biden debate in order to prevent interruptions.
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Now, Harris is once again insinuating that she may back out of the September 10 debate and is calling for the microphones to be left on.
“Donald Trump is surrendering to his advisors who won’t allow him to debate with a live microphone. If his own team doesn’t have confidence in him, the American people definitely can’t,” Harris wrote in an X post Saturday.
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“We are running for President of the United States. Let’s debate in a transparent way—with the microphones on the whole time.”
The Harris Campaign has further confirmed that it has not actually agreed to the rules of the debate and are seeking to change the microphone rule.
Donald Trump is surrendering to his advisors who won’t allow him to debate with a live microphone. If his own team doesn’t have confidence in him, the American people definitely can’t.
We are running for President of the United States. Let’s debate in a transparent way—with the… https://t.co/mjyaiUTwAA
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 31, 2024
Pundits have speculated that Harris is attempting to replicate a moment from her 2020 vice-presidential debate with Mike Pence. Throughout the debate, Harris repeatedly said “I’m speaking” whenever Pence would interject.
She even forced the contrived quote — which was lauded by corporate journalists — when Pence was not even speaking.
[WATCH]: Kamala Harris is desperate to have the microphones unmuted so she tell Trump, “I’m speaking…” It is her one debate move – the muted microphone is her kryptonite.
The phrase “I’m speaking” quickly became emblematic of Harris’s debate style, with critics viewing it as… pic.twitter.com/7kl4xH2yCH
— @amuse (@amuse) August 31, 2024
