Vice President Harris’s campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu on Wednesday mocked former President Trump over the microphone muting issue at the upcoming presidential debate, saying his own team “wants to shut him up.”
“You know, I find it so interesting that what we’re fighting about is the fact that his own team wants to shut him up,” Landrieu said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I don’t know if I’ve ever heard that before in the debates and the rules of the debates.”
Trump raised questions this week about whether he would skip the debate to be hosted by ABC over a disagreement over whether microphones would be muted when it’s not the candidate’s turn to speak.
“Look, if the microphones stay on, people are going to hear what he says, if they stay off, he’s going to yell and scream anyway,” Landrieu said. “He is an uncontrollable guy, he is unhinged.”
Landrieu continued his criticism of Trump, calling him a “delusional guy.”
On Monday, Trump said it didn’t matter to him whether the microphones were muted. His campaign asserted each candidate should have their microphone muted when it’s not their turn to speak, like the previous debate between President Biden and Trump.
Trump said online Tuesday that he would agree to debate rules against Harris if they matched those from CNN’s debate in June, which featured Trump and President Biden.
The Harris campaign, however, is arguing it was not the party that agreed to those rules. It pushed for microphones to be left on throughout the debate, which it says could allow viewers to see Trump interrupting Harris.
Landrieu said the public should be talking about how Trump does “not see reality.”
“That’s really kind of a critical part because some people want to give him the power of the presidency so that he can use it in a way that’s going to hurt the American people and we’re not going to let that happen,” he said.
The Trump campaign sought to turn the Harris campaign’s comments on their opponent.
“Kamala Harris has been too cowardly to accept debates or do media interviews,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement to The Hill. “It seems like her team wants her to shut up.”
Updated: 4:09 p.m.