According to CNN, on October 19, local time, the U.S. Presidential Debate Committee issued a new regulation that when one of the two presidential candidates makes an opening statement on the six major debate topics, the microphone of their opponent will be "muted." The move could anger the incumbent president.
During the public discussion session, both candidates' microphones are turned on, and if either candidate interrupts the other, the time will be deducted for the rest of the debate.
In the face of the new regulation, Trump told the media that he thought the provision was unfair, but he was still willing to participate in the debate.
According to people familiar with the matter, the decision of "Jingmai" was unanimously agreed by the members of the committee, and stressed that "this is not a change to the rules, but to promote the two parties to abide by the rules." ”
U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden will have their microphones muted during the final presidential debate this Thursday night, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced on Monday.
“I‘ll participate. I just think it’s very unfair,” said Trump, when asked by reporters about the new rule.
Each candidate will be given two minutes to answer an initial question in each of the first six segments of the debate. Per the rule, the opposing candidate’s microphone will be muted during these two minutes, and will only be unmuted after the speaker has delivered his answer.
According to CNN, a source close to the commission said the decision on muting the microphones was unanimously approved by the committee.
Tim Murphy, director in charge of the Trump campaign, accused the organizing committee of "making rule changes that would give the Presidential Debate Commission control of the debate, but the committee is clearly biased toward the Biden camp." ”
Biden team spokesman Duchloe responded to the questions by saying Trump was afraid to face questions about his inadequacy in fighting the pandemic and, as usual, he was more concerned with the rules of debate than helping a country in crisis.
However, Trump’s campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told reporters that the decision from the commission is an “attempt to provide advantage to their favored candidate.”
Biden’s spokesman T.J. Ducklo responded to the Trump campaign’s complaint in the following manner: “The campaigns and the commission agreed months ago that the debate host would choose the topics. The Trump campaign is lying about that now because Donald Trump is afraid to face challenges about his treatment towards COVID-19.”
Why does the organizing committee want to "jingmai"?
On September 29, during the first presidential debate, incumbent president and Republican presidential candidate Trump repeatedly interrupted democratic presidential candidate Biden's speech, and Biden asked Trump to shut up and keep quiet, which required the moderator to mediate the quarrel between the two and maintain order.
American talk show anchor Trevor Noah spat on the first US election debate in his show "The Daily Show", and the scene was extremely chaotic.
He deeply regretted the referee of the debate and believed that the organizing committee should invite the referee of the American Fighting Championship to preside over the debate so that Trump could shut up in time.
screenshot from YouTube
On September 30, the Presidential Debate Committee said in a statement that the rules for subsequent debates would be revised to ensure an orderly conduct of the debate.
According to the original plan, from 21:00 to 22:30 local time on October 22, Trump and Biden will hold a third presidential candidate debate in Nashville, Tennessee.
The first presidential debate was held on September 29, with the president interrupting many more times than Joe Biden. Biden requested Trump to be quiet, which forced the debate moderator to maintain order.
Famous U.S. comedian Trevor Noah had pity on debate’s moderator and suggested the committee should invite a UFC referee to force Trump to shut up.
The final debate will be held on October 22 in Nashville, Tennessee.