Trump threatens to pull out of ABC debate amid bias accusations
Donald Trump has suggested that he withdraw from the ABC television debate with Kamala Harris. The Republican candidate accuses the television network of bias. There is also an ongoing dispute between the campaign teams of the U.S. presidential candidates.
The U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump criticised ABC, which is supposed to host the debate on 10 September.
Trump said that ABC is "the single worst network for unfairness" - said Trump, adding that "I think ABC really should be shut out". The day before, he attacked the network similarly on his social media platform Truth Social, asking why he should debate against Kamala Harris on this network.
Dispute between campaign teams
Politico and other media reported that both campaign teams are arguing about the showdown rules, which will take place in Philadelphia. The main issue is whether the hosts can mute the candidates' microphones, as was the case during the Trump-Biden debate on CNN on 27 June. Harris' team wants the microphones always to be on, while Trump's people prefer to stick with muting them.
"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," - said Harris' team in a statement.
When asked about this on Monday, Trump himself stated that he personally would prefer the microphones to be on all the time but added that both teams had previously agreed to two debates under the same rules.
The ABC debate in Philadelphia is the only scheduled televised showdown between the candidates. Since Harris became the Democratic presidential candidate, Trump has suggested several times that he might withdraw from the ABC debate, proposing showdowns on Fox News and CNN instead. He also praised CNN, the organiser of the first debate, which led to President Biden withdrawing. The network was criticised for not responding to the candidates' false statements and distortions.
