The commission that oversees the general election presidential debates is reportedly changing the rules so it will be easier to silence the 2020 candidates in their final two matchups.
The rules: One “key change” planned by the Commission on Presidential Debates is to cut off the microphones of President Donald Trump and Joe Biden if they interrupt one another or the moderator, CBS News reported on Thursday.
The commission is responding to the first Trump-Biden showdown on Tuesday in Cleveland, which saw the candidates’s frequently talk over each other and exchange personal insults.
- In a statement on Wednesday, the commission said the debate “made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.”
The reaction: Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, welcomed “whatever set of rules the Commission develops to try to contain Donald Trump’s behavior.”
- “The president will have to choose between responding to voters about questions for which he has offered no answers in this campaign — or repeating last night’s unhinged meltdown,” Bedingfield said in a statement.
But Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign’s communications director, accused the commission of “changing the rules in the middle of the game” to try to help Biden.
- “They’re only doing this because their guy got pummeled last night,” Murtaugh said in a statement. “President Trump was the dominant force and now Joe Biden is trying to work the refs.”
Who’s fault?: Trump has been widely blamed for derailing Tuesday’s debate with interruptions, and a number of commentators called for his mic to be cut in future debates.
- The Republican president and his supporters, though, have faulted the moderator, Fox News’ Chris Wallace, for allegedly siding with Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee.
An “informed source” told CBS News the commission will spend the next 48 hours updating the guidelines for the second debate, an Oct. 15 town hall in Miami.
- The new rules will not be subject to negotiation with the campaigns, the source said.
