Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that his campaign has come to an agreement with Vice President Kamala Harris’s team on the September presidential debate hosted by ABC News.
The debaters will be standing and candidates cannot bring notes, he said.
“We have also been given assurance by ABC that this will be a ‘fair and equitable’ Debate, and that neither side will be given the questions in advance,” Trump wrote before chiding Harris for not agreeing to debate him on Fox News on Sept. 4. “But that date will be held open in case she changes her mind.”
Trump added that a possible third debate hosted by NBC News “has not been agreed to” by the Harris team.
The Epoch Times has contacted Harris’s campaign, which has not publicly commented on his statement.
Trump’s announcement was made after he suggested on Truth Social on Sunday night he might pull out of the ABC News debate after watching network host Jonathan Karl interview Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) in what he said was a biased manner. “Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” he asked.
A day later, both the Harris and Trump campaigns offered dueling statements on the debate and whether microphones should be muted or not. An earlier agreement announced by Trump and Biden for both the CNN and ABC debates included the muting of microphones, which occurred during the first debate.
Other rules that were intact during the CNN event included two commercial breaks, no live audience, no opening statements, and strict time limits. Candidates were not allowed to use pre-prepared notes but could have a notepad, a pen, and a bottle of water.
Harris spokesperson Brian Fallon said on Monday that the vice president’s campaign wanted the broadcaster to keep the candidates’ microphones on throughout the event, and not mute them while their opponent was speaking.
Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said in a statement they had already agreed to the same terms as CNN’s June debate, which had muted microphones, adding, “We said no changes to the agreed-upon rules.”
But the former president later told reporters at an event in Virginia that he preferred to have his microphone kept on, adding that he did not like it muted last time. He also said he was not preparing much for the face-off against his new rival.
“Doesn’t matter to me. I'd rather have it, probably, on. But the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time,” Trump said.
“I’m not spending a lot of time on it. I think my whole life I’ve been preparing for a debate,” the former president said. “You can’t cram knowledge into your head, for you know, 30 years of knowledge in one week. So, you know, there’s a little debate prep, but I’ve always done it more or less the same way.”
The Trump campaign had suggested the Sept. 4 debate hosted by Fox News, and that if Harris declined it would be a televised town hall with just himself and host Sean Hannity. The Harris campaign has declined the invite.
The vice presidential candidates, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), are slated to debate Oct. 1 on CBS News.
