After agreeing to the presidential debate on ABC Sept. 10, Vice President Kamala Harris is looking to change the rules.
Instead of having a traditional debate where both candidates stand, Harris wants her and former President Donald Trump to participate in a seated debate. She also wants to be allowed to have notes instead of speaking on facts they already know.
SURPRISE! Harris wants new rules, her rules for the debate. She wants to use notes (OF COURSE ) sit down, and have an opening statement. @kleavittnh makes is clear. WOW… these liberals want everything their way. She is a communist so there ya go. pic.twitter.com/nD0o39JDhF
After hearing about Harris’ demands, Jason Miller of the Trump campaign informed Politico Playbook that he was tired of the “games.”
“Enough with the games,” he said. “We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate. 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,” he continued.
“This seems to be a pattern for the Harris campaign. They won’t allow Harris to do interviews, they won’t allow her to do press conferences, and now they want to give her a cheat-sheet for the debate. My guess is that they’re looking for a way to get out of any debate with President Trump.”
Since receiving Biden’s endorsement over a month ago, Harris has not held any press conferences or long-form interviews. When she does interact with the press, it is often short and vague. She has only agreed to one debate with Trump and is now looking to change the format in her favor.
The Harris campaign is also requesting the use of “hot mics,” which they said is to catch Trump saying something that can be used against him.
Harris wants to change the rules so there will be a hot mic during a debate with Trump. This is so she can reprise her "I'm speaking" schtick she did in her Pence debate anytime he spoke and even when he didn't. But for what it's worth, that was SO ANNOYING of her. pic.twitter.com/NtMpPnj5M4
“Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own,” said Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign’s senior communications adviser.
“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.”
Since the debates began in June, Trump has been accommodating to the Democratic Party’s requests. He agreed to the Biden campaign’s terms during their June 27 debate when the president was still running for re-election.
Fallon said that Miller’s statement about Harris’ rule change request is false.
“All three parties (Trump, Harris and ABC) have agreed to standing and no notes, and we never sought otherwise,” he said.
Meanwhile, Politico stated, “At the time they accepted ABC’s invitation, the Harris campaign did so while making clear to the network that the rules themselves were up for debate. And if this current snag is any indication, that debate is far from settled.”
On Truth Social Sunday night, Trump wrote a post about possibly turning down the ABC debate, stating the network’s bias towards Republicans.
“I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl’s (K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” he wrote.
“Will panelist Donna Brazil give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton? Will Kamala’s best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise. Where is Liddle’ George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Will he be involved. They’ve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!!”
Good morning folks. 70 days to do until election day. Late Sunday, Trump turned to Truth Social to air his latest frustration w/ABC debate negotiations and questioned why he should agree to it. This has been going on since Harris rose to the top of the ticket, w/ABC as the target pic.twitter.com/JyVFKMgpSL
