ABC News has denied Vice President Kamala Harris’ last-ditch efforts to change the rules — presumably in an attempt to sabotage her opponent — for her upcoming debate with former President Donald Trump on September 10.
Harris, according to multiple sources, wanted the network to allow the candidates to sit throughout the debate, to bring notes along, and to keep the microphones live rather than cut them off once each candidate’s time had expired. Those same rules were in place during President Joe Biden’s disastrous CNN debate against Trump in late June.
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According to a New York Post report published Thursday, Trump and Harris will stand for the duration of the debate. Each will be allowed a water bottle, a pen, and paper. The event will be held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
One Trump ally told The Post that both campaigns were informed of the debate rules in writing last week — and both agreed — before Harris’ campaign reached out again and called for the mics to be left on for the entirety of the debate. The consensus, according to some reports, was that live mics could be a liability for Trump, given his history of interrupting debate opponents. Others argued that Harris, who spent a fair amount of time interrupting former Vice President Mike Pence during her vice presidential debate, was simply attempting to use the same strategy against Trump.
“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,” the source told The Post.
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Harris, nearly 40 days after leap-frogging to the top of the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket more than a month ago, will sit for her first major interview with friendly CNN anchor Dana Bash. The interview will be pre-taped, and Harris’ running mate Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) will also participate.
