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They will mute the microphones in the Trump-Biden debate

2020-10-20T01:04:02.139Z


The decision to mute microphones was made due to how the first debate between Biden and Trump turned into chaos.


Second debate between Trump and Biden canceled 2:21

(CNN) -

Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump will have their microphones muted during parts of the second and final presidential debate Thursday night, the Committee on Presidential Debates announced Monday in a decision likely to anger the president.

The decision was made after the commission met Monday afternoon to discuss possible changes to the rules of the debate format.

They decided the changes were necessary due to how the first debate between Biden and Trump turned into chaos, as the president frequently interrupted the former vice president.

The change is sure to anger Trump and his campaign, who have signaled that any changes in procedures will be unacceptable to them, which the commission acknowledged in its statement.

"We realize, after discussions with both campaigns, that neither campaign can be fully satisfied with the measures announced today," the statement read.

'One may think that they go too far, and one may think that they do not go far enough.

We are convinced that these actions strike the right balance and are in the interest of the American people, for whom these discussions are taking place. "

The silencing will work like this: at the beginning of each of the six debate segments, each candidate will have two minutes to answer an initial question.

During that part, the opposing candidate's microphone will be muted.

According to the agreed rules of debate, each candidate will have two minutes of uninterrupted time to comment at the beginning of each 15-minute segment of the debate.

These comments will be followed by a period of open discussion, "the commission said in a statement.

"Both campaigns this week again reaffirmed their agreement with the two-minute uninterrupted rule."

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The statement continued: “The Commission announces today that to enforce this agreed rule, the only candidate whose microphone will be open during these two-minute periods is the candidate who has the floor according to the rules.

For the remainder of each segment, which by design is intended to be devoted to open discussion, both candidates' microphones will be open.

Both microphones will activate after each candidate gives their two-minute response.

"During the times dedicated to open discussion, the Commission expects the candidates to respect each other's time, which will promote civil discourse for the benefit of the public that sees it," the statement read.

As in the past, the moderator will distribute approximately the same amount of time between the two speakers over the course of the 90 minutes.

The time invested during any interruption will be returned to the other candidate.

The commission's second presidential debate was canceled after Trump refused to enter a virtual contest, a change made due to his positive coronavirus diagnosis.

After the first debate, the commission did not specify what changes they would make, but their statement at the time said that they intended to "ensure that additional tools are available to maintain order in the remaining debates."

The commission was also prepared to certify that both Trump and Biden have reached the 15% voting threshold necessary to qualify for debate at Monday's meeting.

Biden had made it clear that he wanted the debate committee to change the rules, saying that Trump's conduct of the first debate was a "national shame."

"I just hope there is a way that the debating committee can monitor our ability to answer questions without interruption," Biden said the day after the first debate.

The Trump campaign had previously spoken out against any changes to the rules.

The campaign's communications director, Tim Murtaugh, told CNN in a statement after the first debate that the commission "should not move the goalposts and change the rules in the middle of the game."

In a letter to the commission on Monday, Trump's campaign manager Bill Stepien had previously said that silencing the candidates' microphones was "unacceptable."

"It is completely unacceptable for anyone to exercise such power, and the decision to proceed with that change amounts to handing over greater editorial control of the debate to the Commission, which has already shown its bias towards Biden," Stepien wrote in a statement issued before the campaign agrees with the change.

He also disagreed with the topics announced for Thursday's debate for not being more focused on foreign policy.

The commission announced last week that the topics would be "Fighting Covid-19," "American Families," "Race in America," "Climate Change," "National Security," and "Leadership."

"We urge you to recalibrate the themes," Stepien wrote in the letter.

At no point did Stepien indicate that Trump will withdraw from the third debate if the change is not made.

Biden's spokesman, TJ Ducklo, responded to the Trump campaign complaint, saying in a statement: “The campaigns and the Commission agreed months ago that the debate moderator would choose the topics.

The Trump campaign is now lying about it because Donald Trump is afraid to face more questions about his disastrous response to covid.

As usual, the president is more concerned with the rules of a debate than with getting a nation in crisis the help it needs.

Presidential debate United States

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-10-20

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