Trump and Harris clash over hot mics during presidential debate as ex-president suggests he might back out

Kamala Harris’s campaign is reportedly in a dispute with Donald Trump’s team over whether to keep the candidates’ microphones on throughout the entire presidential debate on September 10 — as the former president suggested on social media Sunday night that he might not debate her at all.

The Harris campaign is pushing to keep the microphones on the entire time, a deviation from the Biden campaign’s initial request.

“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,” Brian Fallon, senior adviser for communications for the Harris campaign, told Politico. 

“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,” Fallon added.

But Trump’s campaign is insisting that the Harris campaign is trying to change the rules with the hope that Trump will skip out on the debate.

“Enough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate,” Jason Miller, a senior adviser for Trump, told Politico.

The disagreement over muted microphones has stirred speculation about whether Trump will follow through on his commitment to debate Harris.

He’s already criticized ABC News for hosting the debate, insisting the network does not treat him fairly. And on Sunday night, the former president attacked the network after Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton appeared for an interview, calling it “ridiculous and biased” on Truth Social.

“Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” he asked.

Trump echoed that statement on Monday