Trump and Biden held one debate – a calamitous performance for the sitting president that saw him pushed out of the 2024 race by members of his own Democratic Party. In that debate, the candidates’ microphones were muted when they were not answering questions.

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Asked on Monday whether he wanted the microphones muted during the debate with Harris, Trump said his team had “agreed to the same rules” as the event with Biden, adding: “I don’t know, it doesn’t matter to me.”

“I’d rather have it probably on, but the agreement was that it would be the same as it was the last time. In that case, it was muted. I didn’t like it the last time, but it worked out fine,” he added.

Fallon shared a video clip of Trump, seizing on the part of the former president’s answer that indicated indifference to the rules on the microphones, and saying the debate should go on without muting.

“Trump said unmuting the mics ‘doesn’t matter to me’. Always suspected it was something his staff wanted, not him personally,” Fallon wrote on X, insisting that “with this resolved, everything is now set for September 10.”

Trump has repeatedly expressed reluctance over the ABC News debate with Harris. He initially declined to commit to the forum after Biden’s exit. Trump assailed ABC News and its hosts and floated other venues, including a debate hosted by Fox News, a conservative outlet more friendly to his campaign.

Trump eventually agreed to attend the ABC News debate as he sought to counter the media attention on Harris, whose entry into the race has galvanised key parts of the Democratic base and seen her rise in national and swing-state polls.

Harris’ campaign has proposed a second debate with Trump – with the details to be determined – if he attended the ABC News forum. The Harris campaign has ruled out participating in a Fox News debate.

Trump and Harris’ running mates, Republican Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio and Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, are to hold their own debate on October 1 with CBS News.

Bloomberg, AP

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