New York
CNN
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As Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump take the stage Tuesday night in Philadelphia in their first face-to-face meeting, the spotlight will also shine on the host of the debate: ABC News.
Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis will have a much different view in front of them than when ABC News first secured the high-stakes presidential debate in May. Since then, Harris has become the Democratic nominee, shaking up not just the race for the White House but also the negotiation process ahead of the televised faceoff.
It’s a big test for the Disney-owned network in what is the only scheduled debate between Harris and Trump of the 2024 race that could serve as a make-or-break moment for either campaign. Everything ABC News does, from the moderators’ questions to the lighting will be heavily scrutinized by the candidates and the public during the 90-minute showdown.
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday night’s debate, a behind the scenes drama has played out at ABC News as network executives sought to lock down the ground rules and format for the match up.
Kamala Harria and Donald Trump.
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ABC had planned to mostly mirror the rules used by CNN in its presidential debate in June between President Joe Biden and Trump, eschewing a live audience and muting the candidates’ microphones while their rival is speaking — a rule initially requested by Biden’s team prior to the CNN debate.
But Harris’ team wanted the mics hot the entire night and demanded the network change the rule. Some of Harris’ most memorable moments in previous debates and in Senate hearings have come during cross talk. Her campaign, according to people familiar with the matter, believed that muting the microphones will make Trump appear more disciplined, and expressed frustration that ABC was not willing to budge on the rule.
The issue presented a thorny dilemma for ABC. While Democrats had selected a new candidate since first agreeing to host the debate, Republicans had not. And Trump’s campaign had already accepted the debate rules as sent out by ABC News’ general counsel. The microphones remained the final sticking point, even as ABC began erecting its physical presence at the National Constitution Center.
But ABC executives remained confident both candidates would show up, and ultimately, the Harris campaign relented. In a letter to ABC accepting the rules, the Harris campaign wrote, “we understand that Donald Trump is a risk to skip the debate altogether, as he has threatened to do previously, if we do not accede to his preferred format. We do not want to jeopardize the debate.”
