Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 34
A much-anticipated US presidential debate next month appeared in doubt yesterday as Republican candidate Donald Trump questioned whether he would participate, and both camps sparred over the use of live mics.
Trump had already balked at participating in the September 10 showdown with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, amid ongoing quibbles.
On his Truth Social media platform Sunday, Trump accused TV broadcaster ABC of bias, posting: “I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?
Harris’s campaign yesterday said that the two camps were locked in disagreement over whether each candidate’s mic would be muted when the other spoke.
During a June 27 debate on CNN between Trump and President Joe Biden, who was the Democratic candidate at that time, microphones were turned off when it was not a candidate’s turn to speak.
It was a condition negotiated by Biden, and one that was meant to apply to the September debate on ABC as well.
But Harris, who replaced Biden after his disastrous performance at the CNN debate, prefers a return to the norm of keeping microphones on.
“We believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,” Harris communication director Brian Fallon said in a statement.
Source: AFP
