Donald Trump will be muted at final debate to stop constant interruptions
Donald Trump and Joe Biden will have their microphones muted while the other is speaking during parts of Thursday’s final presidential debate.
Organisers said the move is needed to avoid disruptions that marred the first showdown, which quickly descended into chaos as both presidential candidates spoke over each other.
The 90-minute debate is divided into six 15-minute segments, with each candidate granted two minutes to deliver uninterrupted remarks before proceeding to an open discussion.
During the first matchup Trump relentlessly interrupted and attacked his Democratic rival, who at one point lost his patience and snapped: ‘Will you shut up man.’
The non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) said the mute button was ‘in the interest of the American people, for whom these debates are held’.
Both mics will be unmuted for open discussion, though the move drew criticism from president Trump, who told reporters on Monday: ‘I just think it’s very unfair.’
Campaign manager Bill Stepien added: ‘President Trump is committed to debating Joe Biden regardless of last-minute rule changes from the biased commission in their latest attempt to provide advantage to their favored candidate.’
The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier on Monday, Trump’s campaign said it was unhappy with the announced set of topics for Thursday’s debate, arguing that it should focus more on foreign policy and claiming that the CPD was tilted toward Biden.
The commission announced last week that the topics would be ‘Fighting COVID-19,’ ‘American Families,’ ‘Race in America,’ ‘Climate Change,’ ‘National Security’ and ‘Leadership’.
‘I will participate but it’s very unfair that they changed the topics and it’s very unfair that again we have an anchor who’s totally biased,’ Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from rallies in Arizona.
Kristen Welker of NBC News, a respected White House reporter, is slated to anchor the debate.
Biden’s campaign said both sides previously agreed to let moderators choose the subjects. It said Trump wanted to avoid discussing his stewardship of the coronavirus pandemic, which surveys show is the top issue for voters.
‘As usual, the president is more concerned with the rules of a debate than he is getting a nation in crisis the help it needs,’ Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo said.
Trump backed out of a second scheduled debate set for last Thursday over a disagreement about the virtual format following his Covid-19 infection.
At that time, he raised concerns about having his microphone muted.
‘You sit behind a computer and do a debate – it’s ridiculous, and then they cut you off whenever they want,’ Trump said in an interview on Fox Business.
The third and final TV debate will take place in Nashville, Tennessee on 22 October.
The number of Americans who voted early reached 30.2 million on Monday, according to the University of Florida’s United States Elections Project.
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