Donald Trump threatens to pull out of Harris debate after request to ‘keep hot mics’ on

Donald Trump has threatened to drop out of a scheduled TV debate with Kamala Harris after her team asked for “hot mics” to be kept on throughout the event.

Harris’s top campaigners had asked organisers at US network ABC News to keep the microphones running all evening – in the hope that they could catch Trump out if he says anything controversial under his breath.

But after it emerged that team Kamala had been pushing channel execs to keep the audio equipment on, Trump reacted with fury.

The Republican nominee accused ABC of being “biased” and asked: “Why would I do the debate against Kamala Harris on that network?”

One senior Harris aide, Brian Fallon, told Politico: “We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast.

“Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own!”

But Trump advisors have pushed for consistency, asking for the debate to be staged under the same conditions as the CNN event – which ultimately derailed Joe Biden’s run for re-election – on June 27.

Jason Miller, from Trump’s campaign team, said: “Enough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate.”

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He also accused Harris’s campaigners of “looking for a way to get out of any debate” and drew attention to her lack of interview appearances since accepting the Democratic nomination.

Miller told Politico: “This seems to be a pattern for the Harris campaign.

“They won’t allow Harris to do interviews… They won’t allow her to do press conferences, and now they want to give her a cheat sheet for the debate!”

The terms for the June debate had been agreed upon under a very different set of circumstances to now, when Biden’s team had tried to constrain both candidates within strict time limits over fears Trump would speak over Biden.

But now, Trump faces a younger candidate, unburdened by Biden’s stutter and propensity for verbal gaffes.

Harris’s campaigners believe Trump, if allowed to speak unrestricted, wouldn’t go down as well with viewers as their pick for President.

The upcoming ABC debate is the only one to which both candidates have yet agreed – but in a social media tirade, Trump has cast doubt on his attendance.

He wrote: “I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning – both lightweight reporter Jonathan Karl’s ridiculous and biased interview… and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters – and I ask: ‘Why would I do the debate against Kamala Harris on that network?’

“They’ve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!!”