Vice President Harris' campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu on Wednesday mocked former President Trump for muting microphones at the upcoming presidential debate, saying his campaign “want to silence former President Trump.”
“I think it's really interesting that what we're battling is his own team wanting to silence him,” Landrieu said Wednesday on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.” “Have you ever heard anything like that in a debate or debate rules?”
Trump raised questions this week about whether he would skip the ABC-hosted debate over a disagreement over whether to mute microphones when it was not a candidate's turn to speak.
“If the microphone stays on, people are going to hear him, and if it stays off, he's going to yell anyway,” Landrieu said. “He's an unruly guy, and he's lost his mind.”
Landrieu continued his criticism of Trump, calling him a “delusional man.”
Trump said Monday that it didn't matter to him whether his microphone was muted, and his campaign argued that candidates should mute their microphones when it was not their turn to speak, as was done in the last debate between President Biden and Trump.
Trump said online on Tuesday that he would agree to a debate against Harris if the rules were the same as those for the CNN debate in June featuring Trump and President Biden.
But Harris' campaign says it was not the party that agreed to these rules, and that they have asked for microphones to be kept on throughout the debate or viewers will see Trump interrupt her.
Landrieu said Americans should tell Trump that he is “not in touch with reality.”
“This is a really important piece, because some people are giving Trump presidential power and wanting him to use that power in ways that hurt the American people, and we're not going to allow that,” he said.
The Trump campaign tried to target Harris' comments at her opponent.
“Kamala Harris has been far too timid about participating in debates and giving media interviews,” Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Chang said in a statement to The Hill. “It appears her team wants her to keep quiet.”
Update: 4:09 p.m.
