ABC News released the rules for next week’s presidential debate between Trump and Kamala Harris.
According to ABC, both Trump and Harris agreed to the rules.
The debate is scheduled for September 10.
The Debate Rules per ABC News:
- The debate will last 90 minutes with two commercial breaks
- The two seated moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, will be the only people asking questions
- A coin flip was held virtually on September 3 to determine podium placements and order of closing arguments; Trump won the coin toss and chose to select the order of statements. He will offer
the last closing statement, and Harris selected the right podium on screen (stage left) - Candidates will be introduced by moderators
- Candidates will enter upon introduction from opposite sides of the stage; the incumbent party will be introduced first
- There will be no opening statements; closing statements will be two minutes per candidate
- Candidates will stand behind the podiums for the duration of the debate
- Props or prewritten notes are not allowed onstage
- No topics or questions will be shared in advance
- Candidates will be given a pen, a pad of paper, and a bottle of water
- Candidates will have two minutes to answer questions, two minutes for rebuttals, and one extra minute for follow-ups, clarifications, or responses
- Candidates’ microphones will be live only for the candidate whose turn it is to speak and muted when the time belongs to another candidate
- Candidates will not be permitted to ask questions of each other
- Campaign staff may not interact with candidates during commercial breaks
- Moderators will seek to enforce timing agreements and ensure a civilized discussion
- There will be audience in the room
The Harris campaign last Monday requested both candidates’ mics be unmuted for the entire 90-minute debate.
President Trump requested similar rules for his CNN debate against Joe Biden in June: Muted mics, no audience, no notes and no props.
ABC News told both campaigns that it accepted the “CNN rules” for the September debate.
However, according to an email obtained by The New York Post, Kamala Harris tried to change the mic rules at the last minute, but got rejected.
Kamala Harris said her debate prep is going “so far, so good” after ABC decided against changing the rules for her.
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