Trump Says He Will Attend Final Debate After Commission Announces Plan to Mute Microphones

President Donald Trump said he would participate in the final presidential debate on Thursday after the Presidential Debate Commission announced that it would automatically mute microphones during opponents’ answers, NBC News reports.

The commission said that each candidate will have two uninterrupted minutes to speak about each topic and would mute the other candidate’s microphone after Trump repeatedly interrupted Democratic nominee Joe Biden and moderator Chris Wallace at the first debate.

“We realize, after discussions with both campaigns, that neither campaign may be totally satisfied with the measures announced today," the commission said in a statement. "One may think they go too far, and one may think they do not go far enough. We are comfortable that these actions strike the right balance and that they are in the interest of the American people, for whom these debates are held.”

Trump say he will attend:

Trump told reporters on Monday that he was not happy with the rule but would attend anyway.

"I'll participate. I just think it’s very unfair," he said.

His campaign sent a more strongly worded statement to the commission decrying the change.

“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,” campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement. “This was supposed to be the foreign policy debate, so the President still looks forward to forcing Biden to answer the number one relevant question of whether he’s been compromised by the Communist Party of China.”

Biden disputes Trump complaints:

Stepien’s statement complained that the debate was supposed to be focused on foreign policy but included topics that were not related to the theme.

"It is completely irresponsible for the Commission to alter the focus of this final debate just days before the event, solely Biden from his own history," Stepien wrote.

Biden’s campaign disputed the claim.

“The campaigns and the Commission agreed months ago that the debate moderator would choose the topics,” said Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo. “The Trump campaign is lying about that now because Donald Trump is afraid to face more questions about his disastrous Covid response.”

 

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