Trump campaign casts fresh doubt on September debate

With just over two weeks until their critical face to face showdown, it now seems former president Trump and Vice President Harris campaign this morning have reached a brand new stalemate of sorts, over exactly how the debate will go down. Trump go on a brand new social media tear as Kamala Harris's team is now making the case for debate microphones to stay on the whole time. Lucky for us, we've got CNN's Alaina, Trina and Priscilla Alvarez, who have the new reporting on what each side is saying. All right, Elaina, I want to go to you first. What is the latest from Team Trump? Right. Well, you're exactly right, Omar, because it does seem like the Trump campaign and the Harris campaign have reached somewhat of an impasse as it relates to the debate rules for that ABC debate on September 10th. Part of that is about the microphones being muted. Remember back in June for that June 27th CNN debate between Trump and Biden? There were a whole host of different rules that they had agreed to, including having the microphones be turned off when one of the candidates was not speaking. The Trump campaign, we're told, still wants that rule to be in place. However, the Harris campaign is now saying this is a new candidate. We are a different campaign and we want the mics to be on for the extent of the debate. So there are some behind the scenes back and forth over this. I do want to read for you what we heard from Jason Miller. He's a senior Trump campaign adviser on all of this. He said, quote, enough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate. The Harris camp, after having already agreed to the CNN rules, asked for a seated debate with notes and opening statements. Of course I'll have you. I have Priscilla fact check some of that. And then he added, we said no changes to the agreed upon rules. Now, all of this also comes, I'd like to note, as the former president himself kind of post did on social media yesterday, throwing doubt into whether or not he may actually try to pull out of this debate, he wrote, quote, why would I do the debate against Kamala Harris on that network? He said that as he continued to, he said he was watching the Sunday show yesterday on ABC, was slamming some of the the key people at the network. So all of this kind of throwing questions into what exactly is this ABC debate going to look like? But I do just want to add, Omar, that, you know, this isn't entirely surprising. We know that the Trump campaign has been very critical of the debate rules in the past. We saw that in the lead up to the CNN debate, we're also seeing the former president himself do exactly the same, same thing as last time as well, which is trying to throw doubt on whether the debate will be fair to argue that the network is biased, to argue, that it's the cards are stacked against him. This is exactly what we're seeing him do with this debate as well, trying to kind of pre but whatever is going to happen, and I can tell you from my conversations with Donald Trump's senior advisers, they privately acknowledge that they are more concerned about this debate than they were about the one with Biden. Harris is an entirely different opponent. They're not exactly sure what this is going to look like. So some of that is also, I think, contributing to all of this behind the scenes. Yeah. look, a lot to keep an eye on that front. I want to bring in Priscilla into this, because obviously a whole aspect of this is what is the Harris campaign saying takes two to tango here. So what are they saying? What are their concerns? with this debate coming up, Omar, I'm told that the only remaining dispute in this drama, this back and forth, is whether the masks are going to be on. The Harris campaign wants them to be on. Of course, the debate rules when they were set were with a different candidate. That was President Joe Biden. Now, the Harris campaign says that they want these mikes to be on and in a statement, a senior campaign official saying the following, quote, our understanding is that Trump's handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don't think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. The statement goes on to say that they don't think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button. So they are needling former President Donald Trump a little bit here, but they also are pushing back against some of what you heard there from the Trump campaign, that the kit that the Harris campaign wanted the two candidates to be seated and that for and for there to be notes, they say that is not the case. And while they are open to having opening statements, that is not something that they are insisting on. Again, the bottom line here is that this feud is about the mikes being on or off over the course of the debate. Now, I will also note that the next couple of weeks, I've been told, are very focused on debate preparations. This is something that the Vice president already started earlier this month, and something that she is going to be doubling down on in the days to come. Of course, recognizing that this is likely a large audience to tune in for this debate, and it gives her the opportunity to go toe to toe against former President Donald Trump. And while she does do that, there will be travel perhaps not as much as earlier this month. This week, for example, she will go to Georgia with her vice presidential nominee, Tim Waltz. That is a state, of course, that President Biden only won by less than 12,000 votes. So it is going to be one of the battlegrounds that is closely watched this election cycle, and one that they are using to kick off after the Democratic National Convention. Omar and Priscilla, obviously, one major question that has been circulating over the course of of the lot of the quick launch of her campaign now post DNC is prior to this debate, will she sit down, for for an interview and answer some, some questions over potentially some of her, her changed past positions? do we know the latest on that front at all? If there are any plans on the books, even they have not yet provided any details on when exactly that will happen. But as you know, the messaging from the campaign was that there would be an interview before the end of the month. Of course, the month ends this week, and we still don't yet have any clarity on when, or if she will be doing that. Sit down interview. But certainly that is an observation that many have made, because a lot of the campaign over the last month has been very choreographed with these stops, these rallies, the Democratic National Convention. So while she has spoken to press over the course of those rallies and gaggles, you know, as rallies end, she has not yet done that formal sit down interview, which, would be less choreographed simply because it is an interview. So you would have the journalist, asking the questions there. So we're still waiting to see if we get more details on that. But certainly the timeline that was provided earlier, this month is coming now to a close. Yeah. lots of keep an eye on, especially as both of these camps end up, heating up. Their campaign blitz, I guess, is fair to say. So, Alvarez, thanks to you both, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris had both agreed to a debate on ABC News on September 10th. That's just two weeks away. But now Trump is giving an impression. He may have changed his mind and a post on Truth Social. On Sunday, Trump attacked ABC news for a segment he didn't like and asked, quote, why would I do the debate against Kamala Harris on that network? And now there is new uncertainty behind the scenes, too. In a statement this morning, Brian Challen with Kamala Harris tells me this quote, we have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates microphones should be live throughout the full broadcast. Our understanding is that Trump's handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don't think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. We suspect Trump's team has not even told their boss about this dispute, because it would be too embarrassing to admit that they don't think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button. Now, of course, let's remember that Harris has used hot microphones to her own advantage in debates past. Watch. Susan, this is Susan, and I want to ask if Mr. Vice President is speaking. I have I'm speaking feel the Trump tax cut. Mr. Vice president I'm speaking well when I'm speaking, if you don't mind letting me finish, we can then have a conversation okay. Please. Okay. And that of course Alex became, a sort of iconic moment for her. Like it was plastered on T-shirts, etc.. but very interesting back and forth here in the final. I mean, that challenge statement is clearly written to get a rise out of Donald Trump himself, right? Yeah. I mean, after this summer, let no one ever say again, the debates do not matter, which is why which is why you are having this fight over these small details. And what's also really interesting is not just that she's used the hot mic to great effect in the past, but also you have to remember, Joe Biden wanted the mute button for the first debate. They set those rules for that first debate, and because they were because they didn't want a repeat of the first debate from 2020, when Trump just sort of ranted and raged. So this was the the Joe Biden's idea. The problem was that then the Trump campaign was like, okay, we're actually going to like make him as as felon. And, indicated disciplined. And it actually made him seem more sober than he often comes across. Yeah. What do you think? I mean, look, when, Kamala took over the ticket, they can have it both ways. Number one, come two over the ticket. They told the Trump campaign we've already agreed to the ABC debate on September 10th. And they were saying, well, we can renegotiate a little bit. And what the debate is now, they're flipping it and saying, well, just because you agree to the debate didn't doesn't mean we agreed to the rules. Look, this she wants the hot mic moment because what she's had, if you heard the first debate with Joe Biden, the I'm speaking she loves to create these little memorable moments that, you know, are based off stock lines that she's practiced and kind of her team is prepared for. They've already the T-shirts printed up. So she's trying to draw out Trump with some of this stuff. Yeah. At the end of the day, though, does this really matter? Does when they go to the debate? That's what I mean. The American people deserve a debate. They deserve to hear the issues being fought to have a discussion. So I don't think at the end of the day, this matters. I think it's just more political insider baseball stuff. It's fun to talk about it. Yeah, that's what we're gonna talk about next week. But at the end of the day, really doesn't matter. I think the important thing is to have a debate and to have them have a discussion about the issues.