Trump says he has agreed to terms for ABC debate

Former President Trump said Tuesday he would participate in a Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC News against Vice President Harris if the rules matched those in a CNN debate in June against President Biden. 

It marked the latest twist in a 24-hour whirlwind in which he raised the possibility of skipping the event because of its host and a disagreement over whether microphones would be muted.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he had “reached an agreement” with presumably the Harris campaign.

“Both candidates have publicly made clear their willingness to debate with unmuted mics for the duration of the debate to fully allow for substantive exchanges between the candidates — but it appears Donald Trump is letting his handlers overrule him. Sad!” the Harris campaign said in response.

ABC News did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

Trump’s post said the rules for the debate next month would not allow any prewritten notes, and candidates would stand throughout. In June, each candidate’s microphone was muted when they were not recognized by moderators to speak; that aspect was not mentioned in Trump’s Tuesday post.

In announcing the agreement, Trump derided ABC as “by far the nastiest and most unfair newscaster in the business.”

“We have also been given assurance by ABC that this will be a ‘fair and equitable’ Debate, and that neither side will be given the questions in advance,” Trump added.

“Harris would not agree to the FoxNews Debate on September 4th, but that date will be held open in case she changes her mind or, Flip Flops, as she has done on every single one of her long held and cherished policy beliefs,” Trump continued. “A possible third Debate, which would go to NBC FAKE NEWS, has not been agreed to by the Radical Left.”

The Sept. 10 debate is scheduled to be held in Philadelphia and will be moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis.

Trump had agreed months ago to an ABC News-hosted debate with Biden on Sept. 10. After Biden was replaced atop the Democratic ticket by Harris, Trump initially withdrew from the ABC debate and cast doubt on whether he would debate Harris at all.

The two sides eventually agreed to hold the debate with ABC News. While Trump had pushed for additional debates on Fox News and NBC News in September, the Harris campaign said it would only agree to the ABC News event before discussing a potential second presidential debate.

Trump late Sunday raged over the network’s broadcast of “This Week,” which included critical panelists and an interview between host Jonathan Karl and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that Trump deemed “biased.”

“Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” Trump asked on Truth Social.

Tensions simmered again Monday as the Harris and Trump campaigns traded barbs over whether to mute candidates’ microphones.

The Trump campaign asserted each candidate should have their microphone muted when it’s not their turn to speak, similar to the rules used during Trump’s June debate on CNN.

The Harris campaign, however, argued it was not the party that agreed to those rules and pushed for microphones to be left open throughout the event. Harris allies have suggested leaving the microphones on throughout the event would allow viewers to hear if Trump was interrupting or talking over the vice president.

Updated at 5:37 p.m.