The ABC news Thursday confirmed that the September 10 debate on the channel will have the same rules as the CNN debate and the mics will be muted when the other candidate is speaking. Kamala Harris’ team wanted mics to be unmuted but ABC News rejected the request. Like the CNN debate, there will be no audience, no notes and they will not be allowed to speak when the other candidate is speaking.Both Trump and Kamala Harris will be standing on the stage with no live audience — like it happened during the Trump-Biden debate.
After ABC clarified the rules, Harris’ team said they were still pursuing the network and discussions on the final rules are still on. “Our latest understanding is that even though Trump said Monday he would be fine with an unmuted mic, his handlers don’t trust him to spar live with VP Harris and are asking ABC to ignore Trump’s comments and keep the mics muted or else they will back out of the debate for a third time,” Kamala Harris’ spokesperson Brian Fallon wrote on X. “We have been asked to accede to Trump’s handlers’ wishes on this point for the sake of preserving the debate. We find the Trump’s team’s stance to be weak, and remain in discussions with ABC on the final rules.”

Trump already announced that he agreed for a debate on ABC News on September 10 with the rules remaining unchanged. Initially, Trump was doubtful about ABC and threatened to pull out of the debate. Donald Trump wanted debate on Fox News on September 4 which the Kamala camp declined.