The Sept. 10 debate with ABC is the only one both campaigns have agreed to.
Former president Donald Trump suggested Sunday evening that he might skip a Sept. 10 ABC News debate with Vice President Kamala Harris (D), after agreeing earlier this month to participate.
“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?” Trump asked in a social media post Sunday evening.
During a campaign stop Monday after visiting Arlington National Cemetery, Trump reiterated his criticism of ABC News, calling it “the single worst network for unfairness” and saying that ABC “really should be shut out.”
The Sept. 10 debate is the only one that both campaigns have officially committed to. Trump’s renewed questioning of the ABC News debate comes as Harris has increased her lead in national polls and is gaining ground in key swing states. As of Sunday, The Washington Post polling average has the vice president leading in Wisconsin by three percentage points, in Pennsylvania by two points and in Michigan by less than one point. Trump continues to lead in four Sun Belt swing states, but Harris has significantly narrowed the gap.
The latest rift between the campaigns is about the terms and conditions about how the debate would work. Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign’s senior adviser for communications, said in a statement that the campaign has told ABC and other networks that “both candidates’ microphones should be live throughout the full broadcast.”
“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,” Fallon said.
When asked by a reporter Monday about whether he wanted his microphone muted, Trump replied, “Doesn’t matter to me, I’d rather have it probably on.”
Jason Miller, senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said the campaign agreed to the “the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate,” referring to a June 27 debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, before Biden ended his reelection campaign.
That debate had no studio audience, two commercial breaks and microphones that immediately turned off when a candidate was not speaking. (Biden repeatedly appeared to lose his train of thought in that debate, drawing widespread criticism. He dropped out of the race weeks later and endorsed Harris.)
“The Harris camp, after having already agreed to the CNN rules, asked for a seated debate, with notes, and opening statements,” Miller said. The Harris campaign said that characterization was false.
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It’s not the first time the former president has suggested he would back out of the ABC News debate. Earlier this month, Trump said that he would no longer appear at the Sept. 10 debate — originally scheduled with Biden — and would debate Harris only at a Sept 4. debate hosted by Fox News. However, Trump reversed course several days later and said at a news conference that he would debate Harris on ABC. Trump also proposed debates on Fox News and NBC.
Michael Tyler, communications director for the campaign of Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, put out a statement recently that said “the debate about debates is over.” In the statement, Tyler said that “assuming Donald Trump actually shows up on September 10 to debate Vice President Harris,” Walz and Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), Trump’s running mate, would debate on Oct. 1 and that another debate would occur in October.
Tyler Pager contributed to this report.
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