The rules are officially set for the much anticipated presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris after the campaigns went head-to-head over whether microphones would be muted raising questions over the showdown would even happen.
The high-stakes event hosted by ABC News is set to take place on Tuesday, September 10 in Philadelphia. It will be the first and potentially only time the ex-president and vice president ever come face-to-face.
Both candidates are facing pressure to deliver a knockout performance on the debate stage which will take less than 60 days before Election Day as some voters will already be able to cast ballots.
The 90 minute must-see event will be moderated by ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis who will be the only ones asking questions.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are set to come face-to-face for the first time on the debate stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday. ABC News laid out a series of rules for the must-see event
ABC News revealed a series of rules just days before the make-or-break faceoff, which it said both campaigns have agreed to
The candidates will be introduced by the moderators and enter from opposite sides of the stage. Harris as the incumbent party will be introduced first.
Neither candidate will give an opening statement. Closing statements will be timed for two minutes per candidate.
The podium placement and order of closing statements were determined with a coin flip held virtually on Tuesday.
Trump, 78, won and opted to decide the order of statements. He will give the second closing statement.
Harris, 59, selected being at the right podium position from the screen leaving Trump the left side position. Both candidates will remain behind the podium for the entire duration of the debate.
Neither will be allowed to have prewritten notes onstage. What candidates will have available to them at the podium are a pen, pad of paper and a bottle of water, ABC News revealed.
Kamala Harris chose to stand at the podium on the right side of the screen after Donald Trump won the coin toss and chose to pick the order of closing arguments. He will go second
When it comes to the questions, candidates will be given two minutes to answer. There will also be two minutes for rebuttals and an additional minute for follow-ups, clarifications and responses as necessary.
None of the topics or questions were shared with candidates or their campaigns in advance. And candidates will not be permitted to ask each other questions.
When it comes to the testiest rule for the debate with the campaigns, candidate microphones will only be live for the candidate whose turn it is to speak. The microphones will be muted when it is not a candidate’s turn.
The rule is the same as it was when Trump debated President Biden before he exited the race in June, but the Harris campaign had been attempting to have the microphones live throughout the debate.
Mics will be muted when it is not a candidate’s turn to speak at the September 10 debate as was the case during Biden’s ill-fated debate with Trump in June. Harris team pushed to have mics live throughout but did not succeed. They accused Trump’s team of not trusting their own candidate with mics live, but Trump’s team pushed back and said it was the vice president who was trying to get out of the debate
Harris’ team last month accused the ex-president’s campaign of wanting microphones muted because they did not think their candidate cold act presidential for 90 minutes.
The next day, Trump said they agreed to the same rules as June, but he also said it did not matter to him and even said he would ‘rather have it probably on.’
The Harris campaign pointed to his remarks and claimed the issue was resolved, but the back and forth continued.
The Trump campaign also accused the vice president of attempting to get out of the debate. In the end, the campaigns agreed to stick with the same rules of muted microphones from June.
When Biden debated Trump at the end of that month, it was the Biden campaign that had initially pushed for the mics to be cut off when it was not a candidate’s turn.
But the demand appeared to backfire as the 81-year-old president was not able to object to Trump’s claims in real time. His painful performance resulted in a growing number of Democrats to call for him to exit the race which he did less than a month later.
On Tuesday, moderators will have work on their hands as they try to enforce timing agreements and move along the discussion.
There will be no audience in the room for the 90 minute debate, which will contain two commercial breaks. Candidates will not be allowed to interact with their campaign staff during those breaks.
The debate will take place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.