Harris Jabs Trump Over ‘Surrendering To His Advisors
Vice President Kamala Harris took aim at former President Donald Trump on Saturday, criticizing him for his stance on the upcoming debate’s rules, particularly the decision to allow muted microphones.
Harris suggested that Trump is “giving in to his advisors” by agreeing to these changes.
“Donald Trump is caving to his advisors who are afraid to let him debate with a live mic,” Harris shared in a post on the social media platform X. “If his own team doesn’t trust him, how can the American people?”
“We’re running for President of the United States,” Vice President Harris emphasized. “Let’s have an open debate, with the microphones on the entire time.”
Harris’s comments came in response to a Twitter thread by Washington Post journalist Josh Dawsey, which detailed the rules for the upcoming debate that Trump agreed to and the changes her campaign requested.
She also reiterated similar points that her campaign made earlier this week.
On Thursday, the Democratic nominee’s campaign mentioned that they were still in discussions with the debate organizers regarding the issue of muting microphones.
An email from ABC to campaign officials, obtained by The Hill, indicated that microphones would only be active for the candidate currently speaking and muted when it was the other candidate’s turn.
“The memo from ABC is a draft of the debate rules that both campaigns need to approve. We haven’t signed off yet because we believe both candidates have made it clear they want open mics,” Harris spokesperson Brian Fallon posted on X. “It’s unclear why Trump’s team is going against what he wants, as he should be able to decide for himself.”
Earlier this week, the former president downplayed the importance of having the microphones muted during the debate, though his campaign has been adamant about this issue.
The Trump team also hinted that Harris would face criticism for pushing for changes to the debate rules.
“Team Harris is going to end up losing when they finally accept that the debate rules aren’t changing, or they’ll suffer an even bigger loss if they back out because the Dana Bash/CNN interview goes badly,” a prominent Trump ally told The Hill at the time.
Harris recently participated in her first major interview since stepping into the lead role on the ticket, following President Biden’s decision in July to exit the race and endorse her. She managed to get through the program without any significant mistakes or groundbreaking news.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.