A recently leaked email from ABC News’ inside office reveals the rules for the upcoming September 10 presidential debate while also calling into question the Harris campaign’s recent wording.
On Monday, one of Harris’ advisers claimed on social media that Donald Trump had threatened to pull out of the debate because he was “afraid” of not muting the microphones. Politico had previously reported that both campaign teams had reached an impasse over the rules.
SEE: Kamala Harris’s anguish is palpable as she desperately tries to change ABC News debate rules
For anyone who had been following this saga, it was clear what was going on. Early on, the Harris team had repeatedly accused Trump of cowardice, accusing him of “dropping out” of the debate for suggesting that up-to-date rules needed to be negotiated. Given that Joe Biden was no longer the nominee, that seemed reasonable at the time. In response, Harris released a statement proclaiming that “the debate about debates is over” and called on Trump to show up and abide by the original terms. He agreed.
That’s why the last-minute bait-and-switch was so brazen and nonsensical. It was members of the Harris campaign who had repeatedly refused to negotiate up-to-date terms, only to demand up-to-date terms at the last minute. The Trump campaign responded by pointing out that the rules had been negotiated to match those of the CNN debate that ultimately ended Biden’s campaign.
Against this background, the leaked email mentioned above sheds lithe on the situation. According to The New York Postwho viewed a copy, the rules were always It is supposed to be just like the CNN debate, only with muted microphones and no audience.
ABC News has rejected Vice President Kamala Harris’ request to completely unmuted microphones during their debate with former President Donald Trump on September 10 – after days of arguing over what Republicans considered democratic trying to set a trap for the GOP candidate.
A network email verified by the post office sets similar rules to those for Trump’s CNN debate against President Biden on June 27 — including no audience, no pre-written notes or props, and muted microphones when a candidate is not speaking.
Trump and Harris will be on stage and will only be allowed to carry a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.
In other words, the claim that the rules are still uncertain, as the Harris campaign claimed, appears to be false. The email shows that ABC News never intended to change the original terms and that all the bluster by Harris’s advisers was an attempt to cover up the matter and obtain concessions without any input.
A key Trump ally said ABC News wrote to both campaign teams last week saying it would apply “CNN rules” and both confirmed that September 10 would be released.
“At this point, Team Harris will face a defeat if they finally accept the debate because the debate rules are not changing, or they will face an even bigger defeat if they drop out of the debate because the The interview with Dana Bash/CNN goes badly,“, said the person.
The email, obtained by The Post and sent Tuesday by ABC News general counsel Eric Lieberman, reiterates the rules and asks campaigns for their “formal acceptance.”
Has the Harris team formally accepted the rules? Maybe not, but that is beside the point. If the Vice President decides not to show up because she does not want to accept the rules as they were presented and negotiated, then that is her business. That would not be a “third backtracking” by Donald Trump, as her lackeys are currently claiming.
Update: Our latest understanding is that, although Trump said on Monday that he would be OK with an unmuted microphone, his advisers do not trust him to debate Vice President Harris live. They are urging ABC to ignore Trump’s comments and keep the microphones muted, otherwise they will withdraw from the debate because…
– Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) 29 August 2024
This entire post is just shameless nonsense. While Trump said he didn’t actually care about the status of the microphones, in the same exchange with the press he also said the rules had already been agreed upon and shouldn’t be changed. Why is the Harris team rushing to put up obstacles less than two weeks before the appearance? I suspect they want a reason not to show up, given how afraid they are of Kamala Harris going off script. There’s a reason she hasn’t given a single interview so far, and her first meeting will be with Tim Walz by her side covering her.
Ultimately, Trump should stick to his guns. He agreed to the rules presented by ABC News. He just has to show up. If Harris doesn’t show up because of the state of the microphones, she will look incredibly frail.
