Debate to have mic-off times but no mute button
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will see their microphones cut off during portions of Thursday’s debate while their rival speaks – but the moderator won’t have a mute button, as some had speculated.
The Commission on Presidential Debates announced Monday that it planned to mute the microphones of Trump and Biden as the other gives a two-minute opening statement at the beginning of each of six topics during the debate in Nashville, Tennessee.
But both microphones will be on during the “open discussion” portion of the 90-minute debate, the commission said. The moderator, Kristen Welker of NBC News, has been tasked with returning any time taken up by interruptions to the other candidate. Welker won’t have the ability to cut the microphones during this period if one candidate speaks over the other.
“During the times dedicated for open discussion, it is the hope of the Commission that the candidates will be respectful of each other’s time, which will advance civil discourse for the benefit of the viewing public,” the commission said in a statement.
The bipartisan commission has faced increasing pressure from the Trump campaign to avoid changing the rules, while Biden’s team was hoping for a more ordered second and final debate at Nashville’s Belmont University.
The commission said both campaigns this week “again reaffirmed” their agreement to a two-minute, uninterrupted rule to kick off each segment.
“We realize, after discussions with both campaigns, that neither campaign may be totally satisfied with the measures announced today,” the commission said.
“We are comfortable that these actions strike the right balance and that they are in the interest of the American people, for whom these debates are held.”
After a chaotic first debate on Sept.
29 in Cleveland last month filled with interruptions, particularly from Trump, the commission announced it would be adding “additional tools to maintain order” for future debates. The commission met Monday to finalize changes.
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien confirmed Trump would take part in the debate following the changes.
“President Trump is committed to debating Joe Biden regardless of lastminute rule changes from the biased commission in their latest attempt to provide advantage to their favored candidate,” he said.
The Biden campaign comment.
In a letter to the commission earlier Monday, Stepien objected to the commission empowering any individual with the ability to cut off a microphone.
Stepien also expressed “great concern” over the commission’s decision not to have a theme devoted to foreign policy. Instead, the debate topics will be fighting COVID-19, American families, race in America, climate change, national security and leadership.
The commission never publicly announced that the final debate would have a foreign policy focus. But Stepien called it the “long-standing custom” of the commission to make foreign policy central to the final debate.
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