Watch live: Harris and Trump face off in first presidential debate
Watch as Vice President Kamala Harris faces off against former President Donald Trump Tuesday for the first time since becoming the Democratic nominee.
The debate will air at 6 p.m. PT or 90 minutes from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis are slated to moderate the debate, which will be broadcast by the network and streamed on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.
The debate rules echo those agreed on for the June matchup between President Joe Biden and Trump. That means microphones will once again be muted unless a candidate is speaking, something the Harris team asked to change for this debate.
It’s a rule initially proposed by the Biden campaign ahead of the first debate and was largely seen as a potential shake-up to Trump’s typical debate style. Instead, it ended up benefiting the former president, who has a history of interrupting in these settings to the point of his campaign’s detriment. The technical change helped Trump appear more controlled.
Harris’ campaign told ABC that Harris would be disadvantaged by the muted mics because it would shield Trump from direct exchanges — but said that it would agree to the terms lest Trump drop out of the debate altogether.
A campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe private negotiations, said that a pool would be on hand to hear what the candidates are saying into muted microphones — and that if there is “significant crosstalk,” the network may unmute both microphones. The moderator will warn candidates to stop frequent interruptions, the official said. “Our understanding of these things helped inform our decision to accept muted mics,” the official said.
There will be no audience and candidates will not be permitted to question each other directly. In addition, neither will be allowed to bring pre-written notes or props onto the debate stage.