Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are facing off for the first time on Tuesday night to debate the nation’s top issues in front of a national audience as ABC News hosts the live event in Philadelphia.
The two candidates are locked in a neck-in-neck dead heat, according to the latest polling. As Harris’ honeymoon period begins to fade following the excitement around her entrance as the replacement at the top of the Democrats’ ticket, the vice president is looking to define her policies in front of the nation. Trump, who the nation knows well as a former president and de-facto head of the GOP, is likely to be in the attack as he attempts to define Harris in terms of Biden’s unpopular decisions.
Key topics that matter to Americans are going to be on the docket in Philadelphia, as ABC News’ Chief Anchor David Muir and Sunday edition of World News Tonight Anchor Linsey Davis are prepared to ask tough questions of the candidates around the economy and inflation, immigration and issues at the border, and the country’s involvement in multiple protracted wars around the world.
Ahead of the debate, controversy over the muting of Harris and Trump’s microphones as the opposing candidate is speaking grabbed plenty of headlines. Harris’ camp finally agreed to the muting of mics on Tuesday. But in a letter to ABC News, her campaign officials said that the inability to directly address each other would leave Harris “fundamentally disadvantaged” in the debate.
“Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor, will be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President. We suspect this is the primary reason for his campaign’s insistence on muted microphones,” read the letter from the Harris campaign to the network, according to a report from CNN.
Eric Trump, the son of the former president, and his wife, RNC co-chair Lara Trump, are expected to attend the event with the former president. Many of his campaign’s top brass will be in Philadelphia, including co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, his senior advisers Corey Lewandowski, Jason Miller, Steven Cheung and Taylor Budowich.
Harris has decided to invite guests that may irk Trump — the vice president will be bringing two former members of his administration with her to the city of brotherly love: Former White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci and former national security official Olivia Troye will be in Harris’ court as she takes on the former president. Both Scaramucci and Troye have defected to the blue side of the aisle since leaving the Trump White House and are vocal opponents of their ex-boss. Scaramucci has become a prolific anti-Trump pundit, appearing on several programs and podcasts to speak out against his politics, and Troye appeared at the Democratic National Convention in August to call for Republicans to reject a second Trump administration.
The Harris-Trump Presidential Debate will air on multiple networks, including: ABC, CNN, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Fox, Univision, PBS, Fox News, The CW. Viewers can also stream the debate online at: Hulu + Live TV, DirecTV Stream, Fubo, and Sling.
