ABC has announced the complete set of rules for its Sept. 10 presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
The debate will air at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on ABC and its platforms, including Disney+ and Hulu. ABC anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis will moderate.
The debate will run for 90 minutes. The candidates selected certain aspects of the debate based on a coin flip: Trump chose to give his closing statement last, and Harris chose to stand at the rightmost podium on screen during the broadcast.
Each candidate will get two minutes to answer questions, two minutes to deliver rebuttals, and one minute for responses or follow-ups as granted.
Closing statements will run for two minutes per candidate and there will be no opening statements.
Microphones will be muted for candidates except when they have been granted speaking time.
Candidates have not received information about debate questions beforehand. Candidates are not permitted pre-written notes, though each will have a pad and pen available during the debate.
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The official rules echo those reported by The Associated Press at the end of August. Microphone muting in particular was a point of contention between the Trump and Harris campaigns.
The Harris campaign had been pushing for the mics to remain live "for the duration of the debate to fully allow for substantive exchanges between the candidates."
However, the Trump campaign has said it was sticking to the rules previously agreed to when he was due to debate President Biden again — before the president dropped out of the race.
This year's fall presidential debate calendar is more uncertain than previous years because the nonpartisan Presidential Debate Commission is no longer organizing and hosting, following opposition from the campaigns. Instead, individual television networks are pitching debates directly to the campaigns.
