Former president Donald Trump Sunday evening raised the possibility of skipping his upcoming ABC News debate against Vice President Kamala Harris because of the network’s apparent bias against him.
“I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl’s(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
ABC reporter Jonathan Karl’s Sunday interview with Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) went viral after Karl tried defending Harris’s past support for ending private health insurance, a progressive position she took during her failed presidential run four years ago.
Cotton pointed out that Harris herself has not publicly stated her position on healthcare when Karl suggested that she changed her position on the issue. Only through campaign spokespeople has Harris walked back her past support for “Medicare for All,” the government-run healthcare proposal that became a centerpiece of socialist Senator Bernie Sanders’s (I., Vt.) political agenda.
“Trump is posting late at night on Truth Social threatening to skip the ABC debate. His handlers are insisting that his mic must be muted there,” Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams said on X. “The American people deserve a back-and-forth debate where the two candidates can have real exchanges. Why is Trump so afraid of that?”
Thus far, the mainstream press’s glowing coverage of Harris has contributed to the newfound Democratic exuberance reflected in her fundraising and poll numbers against Trump. Harris has not done any major interviews or faced any tough questions from reporters during the first month of her campaign.
Earlier this month, Trump said he agreed to ABC’s September 10 debate and expressed willingness to do two more debates against Harris on other networks. Now, the two presidential campaigns are engaged in a dispute over the rules of the ABC debate, Politico reported Monday morning.
The Trump campaign wants microphones to be muted when the candidate is not speaking, consistent with the rules from CNN’s debate in June between Trump and President Joe Biden. Harris’s campaign is pushing for the microphones to be kept on, a typical feature of presidential debates and a position Trump previously held.
Trump addressed the microphone dispute Monday morning and said it did not matter to him either way, while reiterating his campaign’s position on the issue.
“We agreed to the same rules. I don’t know, doesn’t matter to me,” Trump said while on the campaign trail. “The agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted.”
In response, Harris campaign spokesman Brian Fallon suggested the issue was resolved and blamed Trump’s campaign staff for the disagreement.
“Always suspected it was something his staff wanted, not him personally,” Fallon said on X. “With this resolved, everything is now set for Sept 10th.”
The CNN debate’s permanent influence on the presidential race and Harris’s refusal to make herself available to the press raises the stakes for the ABC contest.
Biden’s horrendous debate performance in June put the wheels in motion for his eventual decision to drop out of the race following an open Democratic revolt, setting the stage for Harris’s campaign.