Will Donald Trump withdraw from debate with Kamala Harris?

Trump criticized ABC, which is set to host the September 10 debate, after visiting Arlington Military Cemetery to mark the third anniversary of the Kabul airport attack.

This is the worst network in terms of dishonesty – said Trump, adding that ABC Television ‘should be shut down’. A day earlier, he attacked the station in a similar tone on his social networking site Truth Social, asking: “Why would I debate Kamala Harris on this network?”

Politico and other media outlets reported that both teams discuss the rules of the duel, that will take place in Philadelphia. The main question is whether the hosts will be able to turn off the candidates’ microphones, as happened during the Trump-Biden debate on CNN on June 27. Kamala Harris’s team wants the microphones to be on all the time, while Trump’s people prefer to keep them muted.

“We understand that Trump’s people prefer mute microphones because they don’t believe he can conduct himself as president for 90 minutes,” Harris said in a statement. The vice president’s staff suggested he was alone the Republican candidate does not know the demands of his team, because his men were ashamed to tell him that they doubted he was capable of behaving properly.

When asked about this on Monday, Trump himself said he would prefer the microphones to be on all the time, but added that both teams had already agreed to two debates on the same terms.

The ABC debate in Philadelphia is the only scheduled televised showdown between the candidates so far. However, since Kamala Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee, Trump has suggested several times that he might withdraw from the ABC debate, proposing confrontations on Fox News and CNN.

He also praised CNN, which hosted the first debate – which led to President Biden’s withdrawal. The network has been criticized for its lack of response to the candidates’ false statements and distortions.