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The US Presidential Debate Committee has said it will silence the microphones of President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden when they do not answer questions during their final showdown on Thursday.
The commission said the plan is to avoid the interruptions that interrupted its last debate.
Each candidate will be allocated two minutes to answer the moderator’s questions, during which time the other man’s microphone will be turned off.
Once you have both had your two minutes, there will be an open discussion and no microphone will be muted.
“The commission expects candidates to respect the time of others, which will promote civil discourse for the benefit of the public,” the commission said in a statement.
“We realize, after discussions with both campaigns, that neither campaign can be fully satisfied with the measures announced today.
“We are convinced that these actions strike the right balance and are in the interest of the American people, for whom these debates are taking place.
“The only candidate whose microphone will be open during these two-minute periods is the candidate who has the floor according to the rules.”
Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, reacted angrily to the announcement.
“President Trump is committed to debating Joe Biden regardless of last minute changes to the bias commission rules in his latest attempt to give his favorite candidate an advantage,” he said in a statement.
Stepien said Trump planned to raise a series of allegations about Biden’s son Hunter, all of which are baseless.
The president’s search for such claims in Ukraine led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives earlier this year.
“If the media doesn’t ask Joe Biden these questions, the president will and there will be no escape for Biden,” Stepien said.
The Biden campaign did not immediately comment on the latest developments.
In the last debate, in September, Trump interrupted Biden 71 times, compared to 22 times the former vice president interrupted Trump, the Axios news site reported.
The two candidates were supposed to have had a second debate last Thursday, but the commission changed the rules to allow an online debate format after the president tested positive for the coronavirus.
Then Trump withdrew from the debate and the two men held meetings in the rival city on different television channels.
Thursday’s debate will be the last time the two rivals meet before the November 3 election.
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