Harris Reluctantly Agrees to Muted Microphones in Debate

Vice President Kamala Harris has accepted the rules proposed for next week's debate with Donald Trump, though the Democratic nominee says the decision not to keep both candidates' microphones live throughout the matchup will be to her disadvantage. The development, which came Wednesday by way of a letter from Harris' campaign to host network ABC News, seemed to mark a conclusion to the debate over microphone muting, which had threatened to derail the Sept. 10 presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, the AP reports.

President Biden's campaign had made the muting of microphones, except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak, a condition of his participation in any debates this year. Some aides have said they now regret that decision, saying voters were shielded from hearing Trump's outbursts during the June debate. Once Harris became the Democratic Party's pick for president, her campaign advocated for live microphones for the whole debate, saying that the practice would "fully allow for substantive exchanges between the candidates." But on Wednesday, in a letter obtained by the AP, Harris' advisers wrote that the former prosecutor will be "fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President."

Despite those concerns, Harris' campaign wrote, "we understand that Donald Trump is a risk to skip the debate altogether, as he has threatened to do previously, if we do not accede to his preferred format." So as not to "jeopardize the debate," Harris' campaign wrote, "we accepted the full set of rules proposed by ABC, including muted microphones." According to an official with Harris' campaign, a pool of journalists will be on hand to hear what the muted candidate may be trying to say when his or her microphone is turned off. That detail was not in the full debate rules, also released Wednesday by ABC, which are essentially the same as they were for the June debate between Trump and Biden.

(More presidential debate stories.)