In a social media post on Monday, former President Donald Trump committed to an ABC News-hosted presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 10 after suggesting in recent days he may back out over disagreements over rules.

What You Need To Know

  • In a social media post on Monday, former President Donald Trump committed to an ABC News-hosted presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 10 after suggesting in recent days he may back out over disagreements over rules

  • At the center of the dispute was the desire of the Harris campaign to have each candidate’s microphone be unmuted throughout; during the CNN debate with President Joe Biden in June, one candidate’s microphone was muted when the other candidate was speaking

  • Trump said the rules will be the same as the CNN debate he had with Biden earlier this year

  • The debate will take place Sept. 10 in Philadelphia; it's set to be hosted by network anchors Linsey Davis and David Muir

Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that he "reached an agreement with the Radical Left Democrats for a Debate with Comrade Kamala Harris," espousing his recent favorite insult toward his Democratic opponent and calling the host network "FAKE NEWS" in all-caps.

"The Rules will be the same as the last CNN Debate, which seemed to work out well for everyone except, perhaps, Crooked Joe Biden," he added.

The debate will take place Sept. 10 in Philadelphia. It's set to be hosted by network anchors Linsey Davis and David Muir.

At the center of the dispute was the desire of the Harris campaign to have each candidate’s microphone be unmuted throughout. During the CNN debate with President Joe Biden in June, one candidate’s microphone was muted when the other candidate was speaking.

Trump did not mention microphones in his social media post on Monday. His campaign, the Harris campaign and ABC News did not immediately return requests for clarification.

According to Trump, he and Harris will be standing at the debate without notes and ABC News assured him “that neither side will be given the questions in advance.” He also wrote that Harris would not agree to a Fox News debate on Sept. 4, but that “date will be held open in case she changes her mind.” And he said he would do a third debate with NBC, but that Harris has not yet agreed to that one.

Harris campaign communications adviser Brian Fallon told Spectrum News on Monday that their campaign believes “both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,” claiming “Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own.” Harris, Fallon said, is prepared “to deal with Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real time.”

When asked about the microphones at a campaign event on Monday, Trump replied: "I don't know. It doesn't matter to me. I'd rather have it probably on, but the agreement was it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted."

One day prior, in a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump appeared to take umbrage with Sunday's "This Week" program, firing off a missive calling the network "ABC FAKE NEWS," attacking moderator Jonathan Karl (while misspelling his name) over what he called a "ridiculous and biased interview" with Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton (whose performance he praised) and blasting the show's "so-called Panel of Trump Haters.

"And I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?" he added.

The post came amid a back-and-forth between the campaigns over muted microphones during the debate. The Biden campaign sought to have the microphones muted while the other candidate was speaking, to which the Trump campaign agreed. That dynamic played out during a June debate between Biden and Trump on CNN, which precipitated the incumbent president's exit from the race following his poor performance.

"Enough with the games," Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said in a statement to CNN on Monday. "We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate."

While Trump agreed to the rules of the ABC debate against Biden ahead of his exit from the race, earlier this month he called for a debate hosted by Fox News with a "full arena audience."

After some back-and-forth after Harris' entrance into the race to replace Biden, the vice president and Trump agreed to take part in the debate on ABC in September. The campaigns also agreed to a vice presidential debate in October between Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Harris' campaign said that she would also do an additional debate against Trump in October, provided that both he and Vance both up to their already scheduled respective debates.