Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has reportedly had to “scramble” to restructure its debate strategy after losing an attempt to change the microphone rules.
Former President Trump and Ms Harris will face off for the first time in a debate moderated by ABC News in Philadelphia on Tuesday. The Harris campaign had insisted the debate would proceed as previously negotiated between the Biden and Trump campaigns, but appeared to expect the rules to be changed to ensure microphones were on throughout the event.
“Kamala Harris had planned to push back, fact-check and directly question Donald Trump while he's speaking in next week's debate,” Politico reported on Friday. “But now that rules on muting opponents when they speak have been finalized, Harris campaign advisers are scrambling to rewrite their strategy, campaign officials said.”
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the American Teachers Union's 88th National Convention on July 25, 2024 in Houston, Texas. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)
Trump, Harris camps at odds over debate rules: “They say there will be no changes”
The Harris campaign Reporthad asked for an unmuted microphone “so that the vice president could use his background as a prosecutor to confront the former president in the same way he did against some of President Trump's Supreme Court nominees and Cabinet members during Senate confirmation hearings.”
Four people connected to her campaign are now reporting that she will be “bound” by rules set out by her predecessor.
Some Democratic strategists say the conditions for the debate were bad from the start.
“That was a bad rule for someone,” one person told Politico. [Biden] They needed to be protected and should never have been on the debate stage, and now they're stuck with it.”
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump leaves a campaign event at the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee, Wisconsin, on September 7, 2024. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Democratic strategist James Carville suggested the rule would not have a decisive effect on either side.
“[Trump] “You're not going to be able to fool around,” he said. “So it seems like a loss to me either way.”
The report also claimed that “some Democrats privately deny that the Harris campaign's frustrations are primarily due to the maneuvering and expectation-setting surrounding Tuesday's debate in Philadelphia.”
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, was reported to have expressed pleasure on behalf of the campaign that Harris had “finally accepted the already agreed-upon rules for the debate that they first created,” later adding, “The American people want to hear both candidates present their opposing visions to voters, unconstrained by the way things have always been done. No notes, no seating, no pre-copied questions required.”
The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
The Harris campaign has repeatedly pushed back against the microphone rules, trying to get Trump to withdraw from an initial agreement to have his microphone muted. He initially refused to sign the rules Try to renegotiate.
The campaigns sent a letter to broadcasters last week formally agreeing to the original debate rules but still expressing unhappiness with the terms.
“Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor, would be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which would shield Donald Trump from direct communication with the VP, which we believe is a primary reason why the Trump campaign is insisting on muting microphones,” the letter read.
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Fox News' Lindsay Cornick contributed to this report.
