Kamala Harris’s push for unmuted microphones during debate against Donald Trump rebuffed

Ms Harris and Mr Trump, the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, respectively, are scheduled to hold a televised debate on September 10.

It’s the second debate of the campaign, of course, but the one on June 27 involved Mr Trump and President Joe Biden, who has since withdrawn from the race (partly because of his feeble performance in said debate).

In that first debate, hosted by CNN, the candidates’ microphones were muted when it wasn’t their turn to speak. The rule was imposed in response to the first debate of the 2020 election, which was derailed by interruptions so incessant that they became almost farcical.

The Harris campaign said, earlier this week, that it would prefer both microphones to be on throughout the 90-minute debate next month.

While Mr Trump himself publicly said he didn’t care one way or the other, his campaign insisted on maintaining the same rules as the June debate on CNN – which is, after all, what it originally agreed to.

The New York Post now reports that, according to an ABC News email, the rules will essentially remain unchanged.

That means only the candidate whose turn it is to speak will have their microphone turned on. In addition, there will be no live audience in the studio, and neither candidate will be allowed to bring props or pre-written notes.

Ms Harris and Mr Trump will be allowed a pen, a pad and a bottle of water each.“At this point, Team Harris is going to be taking an ‘L’ when they finally accept, as the debate rules aren’t changing, or they’ll take an even bigger ‘L’ if they back out of the debate because the Dana Bash/CNN interview goes poorly,” a “top Trump ally” told The Post, referring to the interview Ms Harris has recorded with CNN, which airs today.

The email in question, sent by ABC News’ chief counsel Eric Lieberman, requests “formal acceptance” of the rules from both campaigns.

A spokesman for the Harris campaign said it was still “in discussions” with ABC over the final rules.

“Our latest understanding is that even though Trump said on Monday he would be fine with an unmuted mic, his handlers don’t trust him to spar live with Vice President Harris and are asking ABC to ignore Trump’s comments and keep the mics muted or else they will back out of the debate for a third time,” the spokesman said.

“We have been asked to accede to Trump’s handlers’ wishes on this point for the sake of preserving the debate.

“We find the Trump’s team’s stance to be weak, and remain in discussions with ABC on the final rules.”

A Trump campaign spokesman, Jason Miller, responded by saying “the Harris folks” were “completely full of it”.

“Everything was agreed to and set last week,” Mr Miller told Newsmax.

“The Harris people are trying to distract and come up with something shiny to move away from the fact that she’s not doing interviews.”

Ms Harris’s interview with CNN, to be conducted by host Dana Bash, is her first since she took over from Mr Biden as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.

She will be speaking alongside her pick for vice president, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.