Photo: AFP
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have four days left to prep for what will likely be their only head-to-head debate on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. That means that ABC, as the television network producing the event, has four days left to prepare, too. Among the ground rules established: the candidates will have their microphones muted when the other candidate is using their time to speak, there will be no opening statement, props or audience at the event, and each candidate may only bring a pen, a notepad and a bottle of water to the podium. ABC News Political Director Rick Klein appeared on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program to discuss how the network is putting the spectacle together.
“Well, look, these rules were Joe Biden’s rules, originally,” Klein told Berman and Riedel. “Biden and Trump both agreed to them, and so that was the way it was agreed to, that was the way we originally offered it, that was the way CNN did the debate- that was the kind of default position. As we obviously had conversations with the campaigns about whether or how to change the rules… but at the end of the day, we had rules that we had offered that we decided to stick by. If the Harris campaign made it clear publicly or privately they wanted something else, they’re not getting it. So, this is what the rules will be, and we had to come down somewhere on it.”
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