Former President Donald Trump on Monday said he is fine with unmuted microphones at his planned Sept. 10 presidential debate on ABC with Kamala Harris.
"We agreed to the same rules. I don't know — doesn't matter to me," Trump told CNN when asked whether he wanted microphones muted in the debate.
"I'd rather have it probably on, but the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted. I didn't like it the last time, but it worked out fine. They're trying to change it. The truth is, they're trying to get out of it because she doesn't want to debate. She's not a good debater. She's not a smart person. She doesn't want to debate," he added.
The debate had reportedly hit an impasse over rules to keep microphones muted when it isn't the candidate's turn to speak.
Harris' team wanted the mics to be hot at all times during the ABC debate, a change from the mutually-agreed rules for the microphones to "be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak" by President Joe Biden and Trump when Biden was the Democrat presidential nominee — a Biden "red line," according to Politico.
Trump in a Truth Social post Sunday complained about ABC's panel and during an interview host Jonathan Karl conducted with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on "This Week" to question why he should agree to do a debate hosted by the network.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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