Trump campaign reveals list of debate demands from Kamala Harris’ team… and whether they agree on a key issue

As a fierce public battle rages over whether to mute the microphones during the first debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the former president’s team has now revealed that his Democratic opponent wanted to change other aspects of their showdown.

Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s senior adviser, told reporters on a phone call Thursday morning that Harris’ team tried to pressure ABC News to adjust the logistics of the debate in her favor.

First, the vice president wanted to be able to take his notes to the podium, something highly atypical for a presidential debate that comes amid Republicans arguing that the vice president will not stick to the script.

The 1.63-meter-tall candidate also wanted to sit instead of stand behind the respective podiums opposite the 1.91-meter-tall former president, Lewandowski revealed.

But the Harris-Walz campaign told DailyMail.com that the Trump camp’s latest claims are false.

The most notable example is the controversy over turning off microphones when it is not the candidates’ turn to answer a question or rebuttal, a move many saw as an advantage for the former president during his debate with President Joe Biden earlier this summer.

But the lack of notes, the setting up of the podium and the muting of the microphone all remain in line with the CNN debate between Trump and Biden in June.

With just 12 days to go until the September 10 debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it appears that Harris’ camp has agreed to the final terms. Reports on the rules will be published on Thursday.

As with the CNN debate, there will be no audience, denying candidates the chance to score forbidden applause with zingers. Props and pre-written notes are not allowed on stage.

Candidates will be given a blank piece of paper, a pen and a bottle of water.

The two ABC moderators are David Muir and Linsey Davis.

The rules allow candidates two minutes to answer. An additional minute is allowed for follow-ups and rebuttals.

When Harris was still running for vice president, with Biden as the front-runner, her campaign team agreed with Trump’s team and ABC News and agreed to previously established rules, including muting microphones.

But Lewandowski says Harris now wants adjustments because her team has no “confidence” that she can go off script and debate Trump without crutches.

It comes after the vice president went 38 days without a formal interview or press conference after entering the 2024 race as a presidential candidate. The vice president will finally appear for an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Thursday afternoon, but her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will join her.

Asked if the microphone debacle is finally over, Lewandowski replied at a press conference on Thursday morning: “Yes, we have resolved that.”

“When we originally negotiated the rules of the debate, those rules were discussed, negotiated and agreed upon by what was then the Biden-Harris campaign,” he explained. “That included the vice presidential debate, which (Harris) was supposed to participate in, until they threw Joe out like a dog and … coordinated her into the presidential nomination.”

“But here’s what happened,” he continued. “Kamala Harris’ team came back and said, ‘We want to sit for the debate. We don’t want to stand anymore. We want to bring notes to the debate, because we’re not sure we can actually answer questions without notes. Oh, and we want to keep the microphones on.’

“None of these things have been agreed upon before, and we hold them accountable under the same criteria that we used when we negotiated with the then-Biden and Harris campaigns, because that’s what she agreed to as the vice presidential nominee and during the vice presidential debate process.”

Trump senior adviser Corey Lewandowski revealed the requests Harris’ team made as she sought to renegotiate the rules and logistics of the debate, after she previously agreed to the terms while she was still running for re-election as vice president.

Trump wants the rules to remain the same as those for the CNN debate in Atlanta, Georgia in June, when he dominated President Joe Biden

He assured that the candidates will stand without pre-written notes and without their microphones muted during the 90-minute debate.

“That’s what was agreed, ABC agreed. It will be there in a little over a week.”

Trump and his Republican allies argue that Harris can’t perform well without prepared remarks or notes to guide her. They use her delay of more than a month in an interview or press conference as evidence of her team’s lack of confidence in her ability to go off script and her historic problem with likability.

CNN anchor Dana Bash sits down with Harris on Thursday afternoon for her first interview as a presidential candidate. The interview will air later Thursday evening.

Lewandowski says Bash has a “duty to ask Kamala Harris the tough questions she has avoided since her coronation as the Democratic nominee.”

Meanwhile, Harris’ campaign has taken aim at Trump, calling on him to mute the microphone, saying the former president can’t control himself during a debate.

“We have informed ABC and other networks interested in hosting a potential October debate that we believe both candidates’ microphones should be live for the entire broadcast,” Brian Fallon, Harris’ senior communications adviser, said in a statement this week.

“We believe Trump’s advisers prefer to turn off the microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act like a president for 90 minutes on his own,” he continued.

“The Vice President is ready to address Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button.”

Trump said this week that his campaign team had reached an “agreement” with Harris and ABC to keep the microphones on mute.