Former President Donald Trump has cast doubts about whether he will participate in a September 10 debate against Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia.
On Sunday (August 25) night, Trump blasted ABC News, the network hosting the debate next month, over an interview with Tom Cotton.
“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 wrote on Truth Social.
Trump’s spokesman, Jason Miller, told Fox News that the Harris campaign is trying to change the agreed-upon rules of the debate.
“Enough with the games,” Miller said in a statement to the network. “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,” Miller continued. “If Kamala Harris isn’t smart enough to repeat the messaging points her handlers want her to memorize, that’s their problem. 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. Regardless, there’s no way Harris is ready to be Commander in Chief.”
Harris campaign senior advisor Brian Fallon addressed the issue, saying that they want to keep the microphones for both candidates on during the entire 90-minute debate instead of muting them as CNN did during the debate between Trump and President Joe Biden.
“We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,” Fallon said. “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. 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. The Vice President is ready to deal with Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real-time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button.”
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